Rise of Unicron
by Bleedingdove411
Summary: After Sam and his family leave for college and Paris, Mikalea's cousin, Terra, comes to take care of Frankie and Mojo for the Witwicky family. Her life is changed forever…the story is better than the summary.
1. Chapter 1

Rise of Unicron

After Sam and his family leave for college and Paris, Mikalea's cousin, Terra, comes to take care of Frankie and Mojo for the Witwicky family. Her life is changed forever…the story is better than the summary.

When Terra finally got to the Witwicky house everyone had already left. "great." She mumbled. She was already late because her crappy car had broken down for the second time that week. She was as plenty capable with cars as everyone else in her family, but the fact is she would just rather her brother do the work on the cars, seeing how she does near everything else. She got to the door and pulled out the spare key when she smelled smoke. "Oh-no, no, no, no…" she flung the door open to see Frankie and Mojo 'playing' on the couch, ignoring them she ran to the source of the smell to see the backyard destroyed, a small pile of smoldering metal, what looked like a mangled toaster, sitting close to the home.

_As usual the firemen's sour view of their paycheck is reflected in their work. _She thought. She grabbed a garden hose and quickly put it out before she headed to the front door for the list, Mojo happily following her every step of the way. Finding the list of needs the home had on the hallway door next to the front door she headed to the kitchen.

"Okay, let's see what I am supposed to do for you today…" she said as Frankie jumped off the couch to join Mojo at her side. Terra then began to read the list Mrs. Witwicky left.

List of needs for Frankie and Mojo

Call us on this number when you get here. ***-***-****

Dog food is in the kitchen under the sink. Feed whenever bowls are empty.

Feed Sam's fish up stairs in his room a small pinch of food once a day

Water plants outside every day (stay off the grass please)

Bring in mail every Thursday

Rules for house

No parties. (Are allowed one person if we know them.)

Do not let Frankie or Mojo outside all night long

Do not answer the door

Take messages on phone

No pleasure calls on phone please

Please eat anything in the fridge or it will likely be rotten when we get back

Please leave garage door open when you see Sam's car outside. (A friend is borrowing it for a while.)

The next few were written in by hand.

_Please excuse the mess in the backyard and Sam's room. The electric heater in the attic short-circuited and blew up. Please be careful and watch the repairmen as they come through to fix everything, I don't want to find that my house had been ransacked while we were on vacation. Thank you so much for volunteering to watch the house for us and we will pay you big time for your troubles …_

_p.s. keep an eye on the electronics and call us immediately if anything strange happens. Thank you so much for this._

_Yours truly,_

_Judy Witwicky_

Terra picked up her cell and dialed for Mrs. Witwicky's cell phone number. When they answered Terra got the strangest greeting she had ever heard.

"Heeelllooooooo? Ha-ha! I'm hearing noises again! Ahhh! Ron what happened to you hair? I can't braid it anymore!" Mrs. Witwicky sounded as though she were a child on a sugar rush. "Um, Mrs. Witwicky? Are you alright?" Terra asked.

"Huh? Wha? Oh no, I don't want any broccoli right now, I'm fine."

"Um Mrs. Witwicky it's me, Terra?"

"Ohhh. Hi Terrrraaa! What a surprise! You look wonderful today! How have you beeennnnn?"

"Um… are you alright?" terra asked.

"Oh I feel grrrrrreat. We arrre at the flying place now and we are gettiing a tiiiimmme ouuut because they are meany jerky facezz!" she sounded as though she were yelling at someone.

"Judy! Give me the damn phone!" Terra heard Ron yell at her over the phone.

"no! It's my phone! Mine!" Judy yelled back.

Ron apparently snagged it from her and started talking.

"Hello?" He asked sounding impatient.

"Uh-um, Mr. Witwicky?" Terra asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, who's this?" he asked.

"It's Terra. Terra Banes?"

"Oh! Terra. Hey Terra sorry about Judy, uh, she got a hold of some bad sweets, uh, so hey sorry about the mess at the house, you alright being there still? 'Cause I mean we could get someone else if you want."

"No-no I'm fine. I'm just about to feed the dogs…" Terra walked to the sink and opened up the cabinet below.

"Um... On second thought I will be going to get the dog food later, it seems as though the bag was ripped to shreds somehow."

"R-really? Huh, well we'll pay you back when we get home. Sorry."

Terra chuckled, "no problem. I'm getting dog food for spike on the way home anyways, and it's a 'buy-one-get-one-free' kind of thing so think nothing of it."

"Well okay, but uh, Try and be careful okay? There was a bit of a gas leak and well there's a lot of sharp metal out there and I don't want you getting hurt okay?" he sounded distracted for a moment.

"Odd, the letter says it was the heater in the attic."

"Er, it was. There was a leak in the heater in the attic, you know because it takes gas." He stammered

"I thought the letter said it was an electric heater…Who puts a heater in the attic?" Terra began to mumble.

"Judy! Come back! Gotta go Terra talk to you later!"He hung up before Terra had time to say anything.

"Uh okay, well then I guess I should do what's next on the list seeing how I can't feed you guys, besides, your food bowl is full still. Okay let's see… Feed Sam's fish up stairs in his room a small pinch of food twice a day."

Terra walked upstairs to Sam's room to find a giant hole behind Sam's door where his room used to be.

"OH MY GOD!" she yelled when she saw it. "That must have been one hell of a heater!"

Terra looked up at the clouds directly visible where Sam's roof used to be and saw that the once clear Nevada sky was about to get a small shower.

"Well, strike feeding the fish off the list," she sighed, "I need a tarp…"

When Terra got down to the garage she decided it would be easier to walk through the _hole in the wall_ than to walk around the whole garage to get to the door. She found the tarp, and with great struggle, managed to cover the whole of the hole in Sam's room. When that was done she looked at the list again.

4. Water plants outside every day (stay off the grass please)

She watered the flowers and bushes without any more trouble, and seeing how it was Friday she didn't need to bother with the last one. So she sat down on the couch and pet Mojo.

"Well little guy I guess I will be seeing you and Frankie tomorrow then, huh?" Mojo just laid next to her and enjoyed the attention when Terra heard Frankie yelp outside. She jumped up and rushed out the door to see what looked like a waffle iron attached to Frankie's jewel studded collar. Terra kicked it off, grabbed Frankie, and ran back inside to freak out about what just happened.

_Okay, a waffle iron just attacked Frankie! _She thought, _no, wait a sec, don't go making a loon of yourself just yet. Maybe, maybe he just tripped over it._ Terra looked out the window at the thing._ Yeah that's it he tripped. No problem, no problem, I'll just clean it up so they don't hurt themselves out there again._

Terra went to the kitchen to get some trash bags with no luck. "Oh come on." She groaned when they weren't under the sink. "Okay I'm a trash bag where would I be?" she asked herself.

"Let's try under the island…" she put one hand on top of the island and squatted down to see into the cabinets. After a few seconds her hand began to feel slightly warmer, she paid no mind to it and kept searching until it began to burn.

"Yeeoowwch!" She yelled as her hand became hotter and hotter until for a split second it began to simmer. Terra screamed and cried out as she fell to the floor in pure pain and agony. The temperature of the wound began to calm physically, but the pain escalated as Terra felt the burning begin to move down her arm and to her heart. "SOMBODY PLEASE HELP ME!" she screamed. The pain becoming worse and worse as it again began to move, this time up the back of her neck and to the back of her brain. She screamed one last time, then she blacked out…

...

Three hours later Terra comes to with the biggest headache she has ever had. (And living with as many siblings as she does, she has seen the darker side of headaches.) She looked down to find Frankie licking her hand. "What happened?" she asked herself. All Terra could remember was that she was looking for trash bags to go clean up the backyard. Terra looked at the island in the middle of the kitchen to find the trash bags behind the bottle of 409 in the back. She picked them up and began to stand when her balance betrayed her. "Oh-oh…ow." Terra groaned in pain. _Must have slipped and hit my head on the floor or something…_she thought with pain.

Finally Terra managed to get up and start cleaning the back yard. Terra was extra careful with the waffle iron and the microwave because they both looked intimidating for some reason, but wasn't paying enough attention by the time she got to the blender that it managed to sink its teeth into her arm. She threw it into the wall of the house breaking it into pieces. Terra ran into the house, got the first aid kit out of the pantry, dressed her arm, and immediately began to call the Witwicky cell.

"Hola,"

"HI, Mrs. Wit" Terra was cut off by Judy's continuing voice.

"This is Judy Witwicky I am not answering the phone right now because I am on vacation in Paris and will be back in a month. See you then, bon-bonjuway!"

Terra sighed and waited for the beep then began again.

"Hi Mrs. Witwicky? Um I have a big problem, can you call me? Uh, it involves your attack blender and the psycho waffle iron. Yeah, the iron attacked Frankie and the blender bit my arm, so call me back as soon as possible, okay? Bye." Terra looked around for the list. Finding it she decided it would be best if her sister did the chores with her for tomorrow.

...

Terra took Frankie and Mojo home with her that night, figuring they wouldn't like to be alone with psycho electronics, and tells her story to her brother, Danny, while he looks at her arm.

"Well you've got the scars to prove it, He said showing her the wound.

"That was a 'fascinating' story you told me, you seem to believe it was actually real." Danny laughed.

Terra looked at her older brother. His dark brownish-black hair needed a trim, and a comb, his blue eyes filled with the usual amusement at his sister's expense; he had a smudge of dark grease on his left cheek from working on her car when she got home.

"Alright then, Maine will believe me." She stated boldly and went to find her little step sister.

"Yeah right." Danny said following her. "Mary and Maine are eight, and ten bucks _they_ won't even believe you."

"You're on."

They found the red headed twins, Mary and Maine in the kitchen with their little red headed sister, Millie waiting for Elizabeth Terra's younger to make them sundaes. Terra told the story of her day and waited for them to respond.

"Well?" she asked when they didn't.

"Gee terra you always told us not to lie, but here you are trying to make us believe in monster blenders like they're real!" Maine yelled, "Next you'll say Santa is real! And the tooth fairy!"

"Santa isn't real?" Millie asked, tears already welling up.

"Oh no-no sweetie Santa is real-"Terra started,

"See your lying again! Mom! Terra's lying!" Mary yelled.

"Shhh! Guys please! Gabe is sleeping!" their mother said coming down the stairs, "now, what is all this about?" Their red haired mother's always sweet and gentle ways seemed to calm things down instantly. "Oh my! Terra what happened to your arm?" she asked.

"A blender bit me." Terra stated flatly.

"I see… and what happened to the back of your head?" her step-mother asked.

"Oh is there a bump?" Terra asked, "Because I think I hit my head."

Terra touched where her neck and head join to feel wetness and warmth. She drew her hand away to find blood on her finger tips.

"Oh my." Elizabeth whispered. "Okay everyone under the age of fifteen, time for bed."

The three young girls all groaned at the same time.

"Can we stay up, please?" Maine begged.

"Not if you want to go see uncle mike and Mikalea after school tomorrow." Their mother answered

The trio sighed and slowly went up stairs.

"But I want to see the blood! Can I stay up just a few more minutes?" Mary asked

"Bed!" Terra growled "or you'll be helping me clean Sam's yard tomorrow."

Without another word the girl sprang up the stairs out of sight.

"Danny can you get some food and water for the dogs please?" terra asked

"Our dog or the Witwicky dogs?"

"The dogs that need water!"

"Terra, need I remind you that your head is bleeding?" her mother said.

"Sorry."

"Sit down and let me look at it."

Terra obeyed and soon enough she had a patch on her neck to stop the bleeding.

"Here Terra have a look." Lizzy said handing her a mirror after she finished jokingly combing her brown hair in it.

Terra looked at her face for a moment. Nothing looked out of place; her eyes were still blue, her hair still blonde and resting down her back. she was the only one that looked anything like her birth mother, the only thing that seemed to change is the lock of hair on her shoulder that was a cherry red.

"So. What do you guys think happened?" Lizzy started, "because what I think happened is that Terra is a klutz and doesn't want to admit it _or_ she is a klutz that hit her head and had a funny dream. Guys what do you think?"

"Great, thanks. I'm going to bed." Terra growled.

...

That night Terra dreamed.

Symbols buzzed in her head uncontrollably like insects attacking her. She swatted at them, but when she hit one, six would replace it. Creatures, huge, fierce, terrifying things with blazing red and blue eyes were everywhere. Terra ran. She ran as fast and as far as she could but didn't seem to go anywhere. Out of nowhere one of them would snatch her up and hold her in front of its red eyes, then toss her to another. This one had blue eyes, and was twice its size, but was frighteningly fierce all the same. It held her flat in its hand and stared at her for a long time, just stared, until it spoke with a strange, metallic voice.

"Awaken me."

Terra woke in a cold sweat, gasping for air. She looked at the clock to see it was eleven.

"Great" she whispered, and went back to sleep to repeat this horror for the rest of the night.

...

The next day Elizabeth was dropped off at the Witwicky house with her older sister.

"Why do I have to come again?" she complained carrying the bag of dog food, "I was supposed to go to the shop to see uncle mike and Mikalea with the twins today."

"Because, Lizzy, I was attacked by a blender yesterday and I want backup this time." Terra said, "Besides, I got a call from Mikalea today and she is not going to be at the shop for a while, she is seeing Sam right now, at Princeton."

"Oh. About the blender, not even Millie believed you and she's four."

"And a half!" Terra protested, scratching the bandage on her arm.

They walked into the house together and Lizzy set the dog food down in the kitchen.

"Wow this place looks like it was the scene of a battle or something. You just left it like this?"

Terra nodded. "Well no wonder you brought those dogs home with you. They have insurance right?" Lizzy asked.

"Yes I'm pretty sure… now are you going to help me outside or what?"

Lizzy looked outside at the warzone she was expected to clean.

"I tell you what, if a toaster starts growling at you, give me a call. Otherwise I'm gonna watch some TV."

"Lizzy!"

"What? I didn't want to be here in the first place! You're lucky I don't take your car and leave you here with your haunted house!"

Terra groaned. "You're fifteen! Fine. Just don't break anything… and keep an eye on the TV will you?"

"That's the plan." Lizzy snorted.

A few hours later Terra hears Lizzy screaming for her inside. "TERRA!"

Terra drops the broom she was using on the stone path in the back yard and ran to her sister.

"What? What is it? Are you alright?" she stormed through the living room expecting a rabid attack radio or something.

"Look!" Lizzy yelled, pointing at the TV screen.

Terra froze. There on the screen is the face of the creature that grabbed her in her dream. Its eyes fierce, its face was frozen in a menacing, almost disgusted glare.

"_**Citizens of the human hive," **_It growled, _**"your 'leaders' have withheld the truth. You are not alone in this universe .we have been living among you, hidden. But no more. As you've seen, we can destroy your cities at will. Unless you turn over this boy." **_The screen then turned to a picture of Sam.

"Oh my god! That's Sam!" Lizzy yelled.

"_**If you resist us,"**_ it continued._** "We will destroy the world as you know it."**_

Terra stared at the screen, horror stricken. Lizzy turned to her sister.

"Terra, what's going on?" she asked like a terrified little girl.

"I… I don't know…" was all she could say.

...

Well that's it for the first chapter.

I hope you liked it.

This is my first story so please review and be brutal about it.

Please inform me of any misspellings or typos.


	2. a single death

"**_A single death is a tragedy, a thousand deaths is a statistic." - Unknown_**

Lizzy ran into the elementary school's main office, where Terra was already calling the Twins out of their classes.

"Terra what is going on?" she asked.

"I need you to run and call mom. Tell her to come home. Now." Terra ordered.

"You're not Dad, you can't just order me around."

"Lizzy please! Just do it!" she yelled.

The lady at the desk looked up.

"Is this about what was all over TV a while ago?" she asked, "Because you can relax miss, it was just a joke."

"No. It's not." Terra said in an ominous tone of voice.

"How do you know Terra?" Lizzy snapped breathlessly, "Did the monster on the TV come and say to you 'hey I don't like you. I'm going to send an attack blender on you!' huh? Did it?"

_Kind of. _Terra thought.

"No-but … just trust me on this okay? Please?" Terra begged.

Liz sighed. "Fine. Just this once. But just remember, this is going on your hide." She growled. Snapping her phone open she walked outside to call her step-mom.

"_Hello? Lizzy? Are you and Terra alright?" _ Her step-mother asked.

"We're fine Mom; Terra's just a bit shaken up. Can you come home please; Terra and I are at the twins' school picking them up right now." Lizzy sighed.

"_Alright, I understand. That…that thing got me pretty shaken too. I'll pick up Millie on the way." _She said, hanging up.

Lizzy looked up to see the twins coming down the hall.

"Hey Liz, what's up?" Mary asked when she was close enough.

"Terra's freaking out from that thing on TV, that's what." Lizzy said.

"What thing?" Maine asked looking past her into the main office.

"I'll explain later, okay." Lizzy said leading them into the office. "Terra lets go. Danny's at home from the shop by now so well meet him there."

…

Martha was terrified when she saw the message, mainly because the repairman hadn't adjusted the signal yet, so the TV shouldn't have even gotten a signal if the transmitter was right _next_ to it. She had just finished up with a patient in her office when her secretary, Stacy, came in.

"Mrs. Banes, I'm sorry to bother you but you may want to see this."

"I'm so sorry. Can we finish up in next week?" she asked him.

"Oh, no problem." Irwin said, standing up, "next Monday then."

"Y-you may want to see this as well, sir." Stacy stuttered.

Martha knew something was really wrong right then. Stacy was not the kind of person to be nervous, quite the opposite actually.

"Stacy what's wrong?" she asked.

"There's… um… I-I don't really know. Just come and see."…

That was an hour ago. She had gotten a call from her step-daughters, who were quite shaken up apparently, while she was picking up Mellissa from her preschool. When she got home she found out that Danny had the luck of recording a TV show when the…whatever it was happened and played it over and over ever since. Gabe was sitting on the floor playing with the Twins and their giant bull mastiff, Spike. Terra and Lizzy were sitting on the couch with Millie, while Danny leaned on the armrest with remote in hand.

"Will you stop it?" Lizzy yelled, "Check the news, and see what's going on."

He changed the channel to see the end of a report from Europe.

"Girls why don't you go play up stairs for a while." Martha suggested walking into the room. The Twins obeyed. Millie picked up Mojo and followed the Twins upstairs. Martha took Millie's place on the couch and gave Gabe a toy to replace his half-sisters for the moment.

"_-the estimated death toll is in the millions."_

"See what the government is doing about this." Lizzy said.

Terra had been silently staring blankly at the screen the whole time. The first press conference they came upon was with someone named Galloway.

"_-and we assure you that this is merely the work of a hacker as a practical joke, and we believe that this person, Samuel Witwicky, will lead us to or is the one responsible…"_ he went on…

"If this is some prank or something, Sam is in deep just from the timing. What do you guys think?" Danny asked.

Everyone was just silent.

"Whether or not it was Sam, He and Mikalea are in trouble." Lizzy said.

"What can we do?" Martha asked. She was not used to being in this kind of situation, asking her teenage step-children for advice, especially seeing how _she_ was the psychiatrist.

"Remember when Uncle Mike was sent to prison?" Terra said "and Mikalea was sent to juvenile?"

Danny sighed. "We didn't get her back for so long… I don't think I can take not seeing 'kalea for that long again."

"We all know Sam." Terra continued, "We all know he wouldn't do something like this. He _especially _wouldn't put Mikalea in the line of fire like this."

"But what should we do then?" Martha asked. "Because I honestly don't know."

"That's exactly what we should do." Terra said.

"Say nothing. We don't know anything. We don't want Sam or Mikalea to get hurt." Lizzy said. "And we all know what they can do to an innocent person. And their families."

"But won't we get in trouble if we get caught?" Danny asked. "Don't forget we are innocent too. We could end up like Mikalea did when she didn't talk about uncle mike, or worse."

"Yes, but right now Mikalea and Sam are the ones in danger. Sam is a good kid and we all know and love him. He is innocent and we all know it." Terra said. "Mikalea is a misunderstood and wonderful girl. We don't want her to get sent away for someone else's mistakes _again_."

"It's a sacrifice we will have to make." Lizzy stated.

…

After the girls, Terra, and Gabriel were in bed, Danny, Lizzy, and their step-mother called their father, who was currently in Iraq.

"_The news is all over here as well."_ He said over the speaker phone. _"My friend was on a web chat when that Thing butted in and even took over my portable radio."_

"Terra totally freaked out when she saw the thing on TV." Lizzy said.

"_I don't blame her. Are you there Terry?" _he asked.

"No, she went to bed along with the girls." Martha said stroking Frankie's head while he sat in her lap.

"_She not feeling well?"_ he asked

"Your little blonde daughter has had a full day." Lizzy said smiling

"_Have you tried calling Mikalea?" _ He asked, changing the subject.

"24/7. We think she's with Sam, we already tried to call his parents but we can't reach them either." Martha sighed. "I'm worried about them."

"_We all are. But I'm sure they are fine. Just wait and see, sooner or later we will get a call from them and this will all blow over."_

"Are you sure dad?" Danny asked.

"_Of course I am. Everything will be all right, just you wait." _

"I miss you daddy. We all do." Lizzy said.

"_I miss you too pumpkin, I can't wait to come home to see you guys. Now I gotta go. I love you and I'll be home as soon as possible okay? Bye."_

"_bye." They all said._

"_Alright you two, it's time to go to bed." Martha said._

"_Good night mom." They said as they went to bed._

** … **

No one noticed Mary sitting on the staircase watching the whole scene. She gasped when she realized what they were talking about. _Sam and Mikalea are in trouble?_ She thought. _But he and Mikalea are good, why are they the bad guys?_ This was too much for the small child. _They need help, but I can't do it on my own._ Mary ran up the stairs and got her twin sister. They both watched the grownups discuss what they should do to protect their dear cousin…

They now sat under the bed-sheet-tent on Mary's bed discussing their own plans on what to do.

"We should go find Sam and Mikalea and save them!" Mary said.

"But we don't know where they are. Maybe we should just do what the grownups are doing." Maine suggested.

"That's not good enough! We can't just sit around and do nothing!"Mary yelled.

"Shhh! be quiet we are supposed to be in bed, remember?"

"Sorry. But we have to do something."Mary insisted.

"I know…" Maine sighed,

"But what?" they whispered.

Suddenly they both straightened and looked at each other in excitement.

"What if I help Terra at Sam's house and look around to find out where they are?" Mary asked

"Brilliant." Maine said. "But we need more than where they were when they got into trouble. We need to know everything."

"Starting with why that thing wants Sam."

"I will go online and see what I can get on the Witwicky family." Maine said.

"We need to get someone to find out why Mikalea went to see Sam so soon too. Hmm..." Mary added.

She thought a moment.

They both looked towards little Millie, who was sleeping in her bed on the other side of the room.

"We could send Millie to uncle mike's place tomorrow." Mary said

They took another look at their sleeping sister.

"We should tell her in the morning." Maine yawned.

"Okay, in the morning the investigations begin." Maine said getting up and moving to her bed.

"g'night." They said to each other.

"Good night." Millie yawned turning in her sleep.

Both the Twins looked over towards their little sister, then each other in surprise.

** …**

Terra screamed as loud as she could, but of course no one could hear her. It was night. She was on a hill in a desert of some kind with what appeared to be a sand storm coming, but she wouldn't immediately call it a desert. The ground was hard and there were long, wide straight lines made of light colored sand everywhere. It reminded her of an air port for some reason. The blue eyed creature was there, staring at her again. She screamed and ran as fast as she could downhill, tripping and rolling several feet until it stopped her. It picked her up and wrapped its fingers around her waist.

"I told you to awaken me." It said sounding agitated. "It may be too late now."

"Please let me go!" Terra screamed, close to tears. "What do you want from me?"

"I want you to awaken me!" it thundered its digits unintentionally tightening making her cry out in fear. It sighed and looked away.

"I'm sorry, just tell me what to do!" she cried.

"You already know." Its deep metallic voice rumbled. Then it sat her on the ground and walked away into the storm, leaving her alone in the desert. Even the lines were gone.

"No! I don't! Please just leave me alone!" she called out. She fell to her knees and cried.

…

When Terra and the Mary got to the Witwicky house that afternoon there was a man in a police car on the curb. The front door of the house was kicked in. they ran to the policeman immediately with the worst thoughts running through their minds. The repair crew was not to be there for another three days. If their house was robbed on her watch Terra would never forgive herself. When the police man saw Terra he straightened and walked towards her.

"Are you the one in charge of this residence?" He asked in a sharp harsh tone.

"Yes. Was there a robbery?" Terra asked.

"No miss, the SWAT team had just left." He said as if that made everything better.

"SWAT team?" Terra choked, she couldn't believe that.

"Yes. SWAT team. Now do you know the whereabouts of a Samuel James Witickity, Mikalea Jessica banes, and a Leo Ponce de León Spitz?" he asked.

"No. I haven't spoken to them since that _thing_ happened. And I don't know the third one." Terra growled.

The police man clenched his teeth. "Girl, I can tell when somebody's lying, now you'd better tell me everything you know or else."

"Or else what? You will pepper spray us?" Mary snarled.

"Watch it kid, I might just have to take you in." the cop leaned towards Mary. "Now do you want to have to go to jail little kid, huh? Do ya?"

"On what charges?" terra snapped. Mary and terra were never afraid of authority figures, especially after terra's favorite cousin and uncle were taken by them during a sleep over at Terra's house when she was only seven. They always give the same look when they show they aren't afraid, the exact look he is giving Mary now, shock and anger.

"How about this. I can take you two in purely on the fact that you look like your hiding something right now, 'cause at this moment I'm taking orders from a higher power than dispatch. Now start talking. What is your relation to this Samuel wikty?" he snarled every word at them.

Terra glared at him but decided not to push her luck. "It's Witwicky. He's my cousin's boyfriend."

The policeman raised a brow at her. "And just who is your cousin? And what are you doing at his house?" he asked.

"My cousin is Mikalea Banes and she is the one who got me this job watching the house for his parents while they are gone." She said impatient. "Speaking of which how about you go let me do _my_ job now and I'll let you get back to… whatever it is you were doing."

She knew she hit a nerve with him there.

"Now you listen here kid, I-"

At that exact moment the police radio went off in his car. The man glared and answered the radio.

Terra and Mary acted like that meant they could leave and walked towards the house to do their chores.

"Hey get back here!" the policeman yelled. "I'm not done with you yet!"

_Oh yes, I think you are._ Terra thought to herself wishing it was true. They walked back to the police cruiser and waited for him to finish. After a while the man frowned and stood up.

"you're lucky I'm needed elsewhere kid, but don't let me catch you in my neck of the woods, 'cause, girl, I already had some damn trouble with that boy doing drugs, don't let me catch you so much as littering cause I aint afraid of hitting a girl. Especially one with a mouth like yours, you got that?" he ranted as though he were some kind of bad cop.

"You know, not that many people are afraid of hitting a cop either." Mary murmured.

Terra snickered and high fived the little girl behind her back.

"We'll do our best to stay out of trouble _officer_!" Terra saluted and bowed as he started his engine.

He glared at her and drove off.

Laughing at their afternoon confrontation terra walked in and screamed at the mess the so-called SWAT team had left for her. Crying out in furry she walked to the closet and pulled out the broom.

Mary took that as an okay and went up to Sam's room and slowly opened the door…

**_..._**

Well that's it for this chapter.

Guess who the cop was.

Guess what Mary will find in Sam's room.

Guess what Maine will find on Sam's family.

Guess what Millie will find about Mikalea.

Guess why I'm tired of writing right now.

Sorry it's so short.

Please let me know of any typos.

This story is far from over so let me know how you like it so far and please review.


	3. It is those we live with

** _It is those we live with and love, and should know, who elude us. – Norman MacLean _**

When the Twins had gotten home Mary caught Terra just as she was about to leave for the Witwicky's house.

"Can I come with you?" she asked.

"You want to help me do chores? And at someone else's house too?" Terra was astonished. "Why?"

Maine gave Mary a look and went to the computer.

"'cause I'm bored." Mary shrugged.

"Okay but when we get there, there are going to be some rules okay?" Terra said

"Fine by me." Mary smiled and winked at Maine…

**...**

When Mary and Terra left, Maine got on the web and searched the Witwicky family. She was bored within the first half hour until she found the name Archibald Witwicky. She clicked on it and found a site called _Famous Explorers in History. _Finding the name Witwicky she read the biography out loud.

"_Captain Archibald Witwicky was an explorer…" she began mumbling. "First to explore the arctic circle... _cool." she read on. "_Was later deemed mentally in-insane and sent to a mental asy-asylum_."

"Hey mom?" Maine called out, "what's a mental asylum?"

"My household..." Martha mumbled. She was in the kitchen making dinner.

"A mental asylum is where they keep crazy people, Right?" Maine asked.

Martha sighed, "Yes, dear."

"Okay. Thanks." Maine began a list of the major parts of Archibald Witwicky's life.

_Great grandfather of Sam_

_Explored the arctic circle_

_went blind_

_Went crazy when he came back._

Maine scrolled down the page to find news paper articles. She clicked on one finding an entire new page full of captain Witwicky's symbols and stories of a giant ice man in the arctic.

"Wow." Maine said. She scrolled down some more and read the story about him falling in the ice and finding a giant metal man with burning eyes.

"Mary is so going to flip; this is way cooler than anything she could find." She smirked.

Millie walked in then and sat down next to her.

"I thought you were going to Uncle Mike's today." Maine said.

"Mom said I can't. He's too busy right now with Mikalea gone. Danny got to go over there to help out, though." Millie sighed.

"Oh... you want to help me with this?" Maine asked.

"Sure." Millie said all too eager to be a part of her sisters' plans.

**...**

Mary was so excited. She was just about to open the door to Sam's room, to find the answers to the questions that bothered her and her sisters so badly.

"Mary? Can you help me for a sec?" Terra called.

Mary sighed. _So close. _She thought walking back down the stairs.

"What's up Terra?" she asked.

Terra was looking at the doorway where the door was kicked in.

"You know, they should at least pay for the damages... " She growled.

"Those creeps. What should we do?" Mary asked.

"I'll get that door from our house in a while and get Danny to replace it. Can you put the broom up for me please?" Terra sighed.

"Sure!" Mary put away the broom and flew up the stairs back to Sam's room and threw open the door.

"OH MY-!" she screamed as she fell into the room.

Terra was up the stairs in seconds and shocked to see that Mary had fallen into the hole in Sam's 'room'.

"Mary what are you doing?" she asked as Mary went into a death grip around Terra's waist.

"I was investigating why The Thing wants Sam and-and I opened the d-door and-and..." she began hyperventilating.

"Where's your inhaler? Mary why are you investigating him? When he gets back you can ask him." Terra soothed.

"But what will I tell Maine?" she asked pulling out the small inhaler. "w-what if he doesn't come back?"

"I will talk to Maine. He _will _come back, and so will Mikalea, I promise. You need to stop recruiting her for your wild schemes, got it?" Terra eyed her carefully.

"Got it." Mary sniffed.

"Now let's call Danny and get that door fixed." Terra said prying the child off of her...

After Danny came by and fixed the door, Terra and Mary went home. The rest of the day went uneventful, that is, until they got home and Maine nearly tackled Mary when she got through the front door, with Frankie hot on her heels.

"Mary I have BIG news! You won't believe what I found on Sam's fam-." Maine stopped when she noticed Terra behind Mary, glaring at her. "We're busted, aren't we?"

"We are totally busted."Mary frowned.

"Busted about what?" Lizzy asked in the living room.

"The Twins decided to take matters into their own hands and try and find Mikalea by themselves." Terra announced.

"That's not true!" Millie yelled running in from the kitchen with Mojo. "I helped, I was supposed to be at Uncle Mike's today but he said he was busy."

"Uh-huh." Terra gave the Twins a Death Stare.

"Okay, its official, you are way more than busted, you are, like, dead-meat busted." Danny laughed ask Millie began to pout.

"It's time for dinner." Martha called.

"Can Mary and me eat in the living room?" Maine asked eagerly.

Martha eyed her child, "Maine, you know the rules. And it's Mary and _I_,Maine_. _Come and eat with the family, then you and Mary can go outside and feed Spike."

"Alright, but then can we go upstairs?" Maine gave her mother a puppy face.

"fine." She sighed...

**...**

After dinner Maine and Mary swapped info and started on new questions.

"Where were they when The Monster appeared?" Maine asked.

"My best guess is that they were at Sam's school." Mary said. "What did you find on Sam?"

"I think his great-_great_ granddad was the person to find the monster, and he accidentally woke it up." Maine said...

** ... **

Terra was dreaming again. She had never forgotten the last few dreams, but this had to be the oddest of them all. She was back in the desert again, the lines even more detailed as she was reminded again of an air port. The blue-eyed creature was there again, but there was a strange look on its metallic face. It stared at her with sorrow.

"I don't know how to awaken you." She said, her fear suddenly gone.

"Yes you do. But it doesn't matter anymore. It solely rests with the boy now." It said.

"What boy?" she asked, "and who are you?"

"In time, you will know all." It leaned down towards her. "Now, I must show you what you need to awaken me."

It picked her up and held her in front of its eyes. Something hit Terra's neck, she slapped it to find nothing there. Something hit her again and again, she screamed and woke in cold sweat.

Terra rushed to the bathroom and looked into the mirror. Nothing seemed to be out of place except the fact that she looked as though she hadn't slept in weeks. She took some melatonin and went out in the backyard for some air. After a few minutes she went back to bed, it felt like the mosquitoes were eating her alive, she expected a chicken pox look later in the morning...

**...**

Mikalea was so relieved when it was all over. She watched the sunset over the water and just knew that this was the last they were going to see of the Decepticons for a long while. Major Lennox had just given Leo a phone to call his parents and tell them he was alright. Sam was due to leave the med bay any time now. Optimus stood watching the soldiers and Autobots with a look of pride on his faceplates. Oh how that look didn't always fade away. Sam came out onto the flight deck of the U.S.S. Roosevelt, and stood next to Prime. She smiled, and looked back to see that Leo had finished his call and was now standing behind her, looking at the sunset. Mikalea looked too and suddenly the world seemed to come together for her. For the first time in a long time, Mikalea Banes felt whole and at peace. Oh how she hoped it would last. They all watched the sun fall so gracefully into the darkness called night. Leo tapped Mikalea on her shoulder and handed her the phone. Mikalea sighed in relief and dialed her father's cell...

**...**

"TRRA WAKE UP, WAKE UP!" Terra was pulled out of her bed to the floor and immediately shaken to the point of nausea by Lizzy. "Wake up, wake up!"

"What is it? Is something wrong?" Terra asked, she had completely forgotten the dream last night.

"The exact opposite!" Lizzy yelled, "Mikalea is coming home!"

"What?" Terra's face lit up, "Are you serious?"

"Yes! Uncle Mike just got a call from her, she'll be here by the end of tomorrow!" Lizzy ran from the room towards the Twins' room.

"Oh my god." Terra was relieved, she had been so worried. Terra walked to the bathroom and inspected her neck for bug bites. Not finding any she heard Gabriel start to cry, Terra went to her mother's room and picked him up. Carrying him downstairs for breakfast, she heard her uncle's voice downstairs. He was leaning against the counter in the kitchen sampling the bacon when her mother wasn't looking.

"Uncle Mike is it true?" she asked, "did Mikalea call you?"

"Yeah, she'll be back by tomorrow." He said, reaching for a slice of bacon and earning a swat on the hand from his sister-in-law.

Terra knew he was just as relieved as the rest of them; he was like that, wanting to hide his feelings but not very good at it. She smiled.

"Mind if I take my nephew into the living room?" he asked. Terra handed him Gabe and a small bottle of baby food.

"Have fun." She smiled.

"What happened to your arm?" he asked seeing the scar.

"A blender bit me." Terra said flatly.

"If you don't want to tell me you don't have to." He said taking the baby food.

"Stay in the dining room, please." Martha said.

When he left, Terra helped Martha make breakfast.

"You're up early." Martha smiled.

"The Liz attacked." Terra said flipping some pancakes.

"You too?" Martha laughed, "She was the one who got the call from Uncle Mike this morning."

"I think Danny is her newest target." As if in confirmation, they immediately heard a loud thud and Danny start cursing loudly. Both laughed and heard Uncle Mike chuckling in the dining room.

"I think that was your brother losing his TV for the week." Martha smiled pulling scrambled eggs off the sizzling pan.

In seconds a stampede was heard coming down the stairs towards the kitchen. Mary in her pajamas headed straight for the bacon. Danny and Millie headed straight for the pancakes, while Maine went into combat with Lizzy for the phone.

"I want to call Mikalea!" she yelled.

"No Maine, she's probably sleeping right now!" Lizzy managed to pry the phone out of her sister's hands and licked the side.

"Gross Lizzy!" Danny yelled, "Now none of us can call her or anyone!"

"What do you mean she is sleeping?" Maine asked.

"She said she was just leaving Africa when she called." Uncle Mike said.

"What was she doing in Africa?" Mary asked.

"She said she would explain when she gets here" he answered.

"All we can do is wait." Lizzy sighed.

"Can we throw her a welcome back party?" Mary and Maine asked together.

"I was just thinking of that very idea." Uncle Mike said.

"We should invite the Witwickys too." Lizzy said.

"Why? they are in Paris right?" Terra asked bringing the bacon to the table.

"No they are with her and Sam." Lizzy said eyeing the bacon.

"Why?" Millie asked

"I don't know. But we should get started on the surprise party for her and the Witwickys after breakfast." Martha said sitting down at the table...

After breakfast, Martha and Lizzy and Millie went to the store for supplies and a cake for the party while Terra took Gabe to the Witwicky's house to make sure everything was as it should be, Danny and the Twins helped their uncle finish up at the shop so they could help with decorating. All was going to be perfect for the beloved Mikalea to return. By the end of the day the Twins and Millie were drained and crashed on the couch for the night while the rest of the family worked late into the night to finish decorating the house for the party. By then the banes family lost two more to exhaustion when Danny and Lizzy were found sacked-out on the couch in the garage. Terra took a five minute nap and was up quickly after yet another strange dream about the symbols attacking her like insects. She stayed up until twelve then crashed as well as her uncle, Leaving Martha to decide to finish in the morning...

**...**

Mikalea was so excited to go home, so eager to see the family she had left what felt like thousands of years ago. She was riding in Bumblebee with Sam's parents to her house. They were eager to be home as well.

"I hope Terra didn't forget to water the roses." Judy said.

"If I know Terra, they will be blooming." Mikalea smiled.

They got to Mikalea's house to find no one home. She decided to call her dad.

"_Hello?"_ He asked.

"Dad? It's me, are you at the shop?" she asked.

"_Is that Mikalea? Can I talk to her?"_ she heard Millie's voice in the background.

"_No, pumpkin, I'm at your uncle's house. Can you and the Witwickys come by for a minute?"_

Mikalea smiled. "Sure."

She told Judy and Ron and soon enough she was at her uncle's house getting tackled to the ground by her all too loving family. Bumblebee offered to stay and wait for the party to end. Mikalea suspected it was because of the large amount of attention he was getting from her gear-headed cousin and grease-monkey dad... Later in the night she and Terra sat alone in the front yard playing with Gabe while Mr. Witwicky told the story they were given to tell by the government, of why they were in Egypt, inside. They laughed and told jokes and just sat for a while. Bumblebee sat in the driveway listening to the two girls talk.

"You won't believe what the Twins had planned while you were gone." Terra said.

"What?" Mikalea smiled.

"They planned on rescuing you and Sam from that monster thing. Can you believe that?" Terra laugh. It didn't pass bumblebee that the laugh was forced.

"Yeah funny." Mikalea looked down at Terra's arm and noticed the jagged, dog-bite, looking scar.

"What happened to your arm?" she asked.

Terra looked down. "You wouldn't believe me."

Mikalea glared at her. "Try me." She said.

"A blender bit me." Terra braced for laughter.

"Really?" Mikalea's brow furrowed. "I thought Bee got them all." She mumbled.

"All of what?" Terra asked.

"Nothing. Was this at Sam's house?" Mikalea asked.

"Yeah, you believe me?" Terra was surprised.

"We need to talk. Let's go for a drive." Mikalea got up and took Gabriel inside...

They had been driving for about half an hour in silence until they got to the hill that was Mikalea's destination. Mikalea got out and sat on the hood of the yellow car, Terra did the same.

"How did the blender bite you?" she asked.

"I was cleaning the backyard and just picked it up. Out of nowhere it growled and bit my arm." Terra said.

"What did you do with it?" Mikalea asked

"I killed it. I threw it against the house."

"Oh. Did anything else happen?"

"Not really." Terra side glanced.

"Terra, I'm only three months older than you, I've known you my whole life. What aren't you telling me?"

"I've just been having some weird dreams since you left is all. No big deal."

"What kind of dreams?" Mikalea sounded worried

"Attacked by monsters, being stranded in a sandstorm, just bad dreams. What do you want me to say?"

"What kind of monsters?" Mikalea pressed.

"Scary ones?"

"What did they look like? Were they big?"

"Yes, why is this so interesting to you?" Terra asked.

"Because. Well what did they look like?" Mikalea asked eagerly.

"They looked like robots okay?" Terra sighed, suddenly exhausted.

"Like the one on TV?"

"No only one looked like that. And I only saw more than one in the first dream."

"What did the other ones look like?" she suddenly thought of Optimus.

"It was big and had blue eyes. It wasn't the scariest one of them but still had me petrified."

"Did it say anything?" Mikalea's interrogation was starting to get on Terra's nerves.

"It said 'awaken me' the first time. Then the second it said 'it was too late', and the third time it said 'it didn't matter anymore' and 'it rested with the boy'. I don't know who the boy was and it didn't tell me. That's all that happened, I swear." Terra said, getting annoyed.

"I need to make a call. I'll be right back." Mikalea leaped off of Bumblebee's hood and walked several feet away. Calling Optimus she thought over how rude she might be for asking him this.

"Optimus?" she asked.

"_How may I help you, Mikalea?" _he asked.

"I know this may be personal to you, but... I don't want to be rude..." she swallowed hard.

"_I assure you, I will openly answer any question you may have without hesitation or offense." _ He said.

"Um, you may reconsider that... did you... um... did you 'go' anywhere when you, um... well... died?"

There was silence on the other end for a long while. _Great Mikalea, you hurt his feelings, you're such a jerk._

"_I don't quite understand your question. Please explain."_

"Did you do something similar to what the Primes did to Sam? Or something like that?" she braced for whatever might come.

"_I assure you my consciousness was nowhere. If you are asking if I had become what you call a ghost, I had not. My consciousness was neutralized and remained in my body from the time of my death to the time of my revival. Why do you ask?" _he seemed as if he was asked how he was feeling, no sign of offense at all.

"My cousin was having dreams about what I thought was um, well, you."

"_I assure you that I was not responsible for your cousin's dreams. Though they may have been caused by high amounts of stress due to the current situation that you were in. Are you two close?"_

"Yes, but I really don't think it was stress that made her dream of a blue eyed giant in a sandstorm that told her to awaken him."

Optimus was silent for a long while.

"_I assure you it was nothing. Though I would be willing to send Ratchet to look at your cousin if you wish."_ he said.

"No, that won't be needed." Mikalea sighed. "Your right, it may be nothing, sorry for bothering you."

"_I am always at your disposal if you need me Mikalea. Please contact me whenever you wish... I must leave you now, I am getting an urgent call from bumblebee. Goodbye, Mikalea."_

Mikalea looked behind her. _Why was Bumblebee calling? _She thought. She walked back to where Bumblebee was and found that Terra was on the ground on the other side of him drawing in the dirt.

"Terra what are you doing-" she cut herself off when she saw those accursed symbols. Terra was drawing the symbols. _No, no, no, this can't be happening. Not to her. Please no!_ Mikalea felt like crying.

"Terra stop! Please." Mikalea tried to pull her away, Terra suddenly dropped to the ground as if she were dead. Mikalea screamed and turned her over to see that her nose was bleeding down her neck.

"TERRA!" she yelled.

Bumblebee's radio went off. "_We need a doctor, stat!"_

"Do you know the way to the nearest hospital?" As if in reply bumblebee's engine roared to life and his holoform appeared. He picked Terra up and put her in the back seat...

**...**

Terra had been very confused when Mikalea just walked off to talk on the phone. She rested against the hood of the car and waited for her to come back. She began to wonder after a while how even when the engine had been off for the good part of half an hour it still managed to be so warm when she started to get bitten by insects. She tried to swat them away but they only seemed to be getting worse, she fell off the car in the attempt to swat them away. Suddenly they were gone. Terra looked around and noticed that the camaro seemed to shift its position, and out of nowhere she felt as if about to have a seizure and started drawing the symbols in the dirt. It felt like someone was controlling her and she had no will or control over what she was doing. She was terrified. Her nose had started bleeding, she wanted to wipe it off but couldn't. It was the worst thing she could imagine.

_Mikalea please help me!_ She thought not able to speak, she heard Mikalea's rush towards her and scream. She felt Mikalea try and pull her away and suddenly she collapsed face down in the dirt, unable to move but still conscious. Mikalea rolled her over and looked at her and cried.

"TERRA!" Mikalea cried.

Suddenly the radio went off and Mikalea asked the car for directions.

_Mikalea what is going on?_ Terra asked mentally. The engine came to life and a teenage boy appeared and put her in the back seat and then simply disappeared, Mikalea got into the passenger seat and turned around to try to wipe some of the blood off of Terra's face.

_Mikalea, I'm scared._ Terra thought. When they got into town something strange happened. A blonde, spiky-haired figure appeared in the driver's seat. Terra looked towards him and he looked back at her with a look of worry on his face.

_This is stranger than Herbie. _Terra thought. They finally got to the hospital and she was put into a private room. After an hour of sitting there helplessly, Lizzy came into view along with Danny and Martha. Mikalea had been sitting in the chair next to her holding her hand the whole time.

"Is she going to be okay?" Lizzy asked tears rolling down her face.

"I don't know. The doctors already looked at her, they said all they can do is wait." Mikalea said with tears of her own smearing what little make-up she wore.

"What happened?" Martha asked.

"I don't know. I walked away for just a second and when I came back this happened." She sobbed.

Terra noticed Judy and Ron walking in hesitantly.

"Is it alright if we have a moment with Mikalea, please?" Ron asked.

"I'm not leaving her." Mikalea choked.

"Alright, Danny, Lizzy." Martha led the reluctant pair out of the room, Terra watched them leave.

"What happened?" Judy asked.

"I honestly don't know. I left her with Bumblebee for just a few minutes to talk to Optimus and when I came back, this happened. She was drawing the symbols and her nose was bleeding."

_Who's Optimus?_ Terra thought

"The symbols?" Ron asked.

_You've seen the symbols?_

Mikalea nodded.

"But she wasn't even anywhere near the shard. How is that possible?"Judy asked.

_What shard?_

"She said she was bitten by the blender. Could that have to do with it?"

"She was bitten?" Judy had a look of guilt, "poor dear. That's awful."

"I don't think this could be passed by a bite though."

"Where was she bitten?" Judy continued.

"On her right arm." Mikalea pointed to her arm. Judy then lifted her arm, pulled back her shirt sleeve, and gasped.

"That must have hurt so badly. You know, I got a message from her saying that the blender bit her but I didn't think it was anywhere near this bad."

_So you did get the message._ Terra mentally scoffed.

"What should we do?" Mikalea asked, "I don't want her to have to go through what Sam did."

_What happened to Sam?_

They all looked down.

"I'm scared there might not be a Matrix there to save her like Sam."

_What happened to Sam?_

"We need to call Optimus. He'll know what to do."

"I think he already knows, when I was talking to him he said he was getting an emergency call from Bumblebee." Mikalea said. "By the way where is he?"

"He is in the parking lot outside. He is really worried." Judy said

"He hit Terra's car when he came to pick us up."

_Oh so he's the car... HE HIT MY CAR?_

"He hit her car?" Mikalea asked.

"Merely nicked it really, he was more concerned with not hitting Mellissa than the car though.

_What? _Terra was getting more and more stressed than she thought possible in her state.

"What do you mean?" Mikalea asked mirroring what Terra was feeling. "Is she okay?"

"She's fine. She ran into the street while he came around the bend is all, he completely missed her though, don't worry." Ron comforted.

"So, is Terra in a coma or something?" Judy asked bringing the subject back to the present.

"The doctors don't know yet. But her eyes are open." Mikalea looked at Terra.

"Terra, sweetheart can you hear me?" Judy asked. Everyone looked at Terra in hopes of an acknowledgment.

Terra looked at her and tried to move her eyes in a circle to show her she understood.

Judy gasped. "Okay, okay, look up and down for yes and side to side for no, okay, do you understand me?"

Terra looked up and down.

"Okay, are you in any pain?"

She looked side to side.

"Have you been awake the whole time?" Mikalea asked

She looked up and down.

"Did you hear that whole conversation?" Ron asked.

She looked up and down.

"Are you able to move?" Judy asked.

She looked side to side.

"Can we be alone for a while, please?" Mikalea asked.

Ron and Judy left.

"I'm so sorry, Terra, this is all my fault. If I hadn't left you for so long you might not be here."

Terra looked side to side rapidly.

"It's not my fault?"

She looked side to side.

"How did you get infected with the shard?" Mikalea asked

Terra stared at her.

"Right , yes or no only. Okay, do you remember getting infected?"

She looked Side to side.

"Do you remember the symbols?"

She looked side to side.

"Do you remember drawing them?"

She looked up and down.

"Are you tired?" Mikalea asked

Terra looked up and down slowly.

"You want to sleep?"

She looked side to side.

"Afraid of the creature?"

Terra looked up and down.

"Well don't worry about him okay? You said he had blue eyes right?"

She looked up and down.

"Well then that means he must be one of the primes. They won't hurt you I swear. Do you want me to tell you a story to help you sleep?" Mikalea thought of when they were kids and she would tell Terra stories of how the boogey man had been killed by butterflies or something to help Terra get rid of her fear of him.

Terra looked up and down.

"Well this is a true story about Sam and the last of the Primes" she started. "They were very powerful and very brave bots. They went from solar system to solar system taking the energy from the suns to make food for their kind. But they had one big rule. Never destroy a planet with life on it. On day they came across a planet called Earth... they sacrificed themselves to protect the human race leaving only one of their fellow primes behind, the youngest at the time, Optimus Prime...and captain Witwicky found Megatron in the ice of the arctic circle... making him draw strange symbols... was called insane...his great-great-great grandson Sam Witwicky was found by the Autobot scout named Bumblebee who became his protector and close friend... then Sam and Mikalea were taken to the Hoover dam where the allspark was hidden as well with the evil Megatron...they tried hiding in the city where... and Jazz was killed by Megatron... Mikalea and Bumblebee helped the soldiers take down the tank...and Sam was saved by Optimus... and Sam shoved the cube in Megatron's chest, killing him...Optimus pulled a shard of the allspark out of Megatron's chest...and the huge Demolisher said 'the Fallen shall rise again.'... Sam found the allspark fragment on his old shirt and was instantly infected by its vast knowledge... was attacked by his kitchen..."

Terra mentally laughed at that part. _So it was a battlefield._

"and he gave Mikalea the shard... told Bee he couldn't come with him...met a girl named Alice who was secretly a Decepticon pretender... and Mikalea found Sam kissing Alice... and Mikalea hit Alice with a car.. was probed by a snake like thing... and Sam was forced to watch Optimus be killed by Megatron...Leo led them to Robo-Warrior who turned out to be... and Jetfire took them to Egypt... and Sam solved the riddle taking them to... where the Twins got into a fight that Bumblebee broke up before they could hurt anyone... and Sam ran across the courtyard to Optimus's body only to be-"

Mikalea swallowed hard to keep from crying.

"Are you still awake?"

Terra looked up and down.

"okay, well, Sam was shot by Megatron and killed... the Matrix turned from dust into its original form... the Fallen then stole the Matrix and threw Optimus to the ground before he could even get up...Jetfire sacrificed himself to help Optimus... Optimus and the Fallen went into battle... he tore off the Fallen's face and killed him... Megatron and Starscream escaped into space...Sam went back to the college... Mikalea went home to find her cousin in the same dangerous state that Sam was."

She sighed in relief that the story was over. "Are you still awake?"

Terra looked up and down slowly.

"Are you still afraid?" Mikalea asked,

Terra looked up and down.

"You don't have to be afraid of him, ask his name. ask him why he's bothering you... do you want me to stay here while you sleep?"

Terra looked up and down.

"Alright. I'll wake you up if you look like you're having a nightmare okay?"

She looked up and down.

"Try and go to sleep, okay? I'll be right here, I promise." Mikalea laid her head down on the bed.

Terra couldn't believe it, she had so many emotions rushing through her.

_All this time. She had been lying to me, but she is my cousin, one of my best friends, how could she do this to me? For two years, almost everything she said to me was a lie. We are family, how could she?_

Terra thought about this until she fell asleep.

**...**

Terra was greeted by the creature, the Prime, just as she had expected. It held out its hand for her to climb onto, she did hesitantly.

"Your cousin cares for you deeply." He said quietly.

"Who are you?" she asked like Mikalea had told her.

"You will know eventually. But not now." He said.

"Why are you bothering me?" she asked

"Because you can contact me and no one else can." He said.

"Are you a prime?" she asked.

"No." he said.

Terra had not been expecting that.

"the-then who are you?" she asked suddenly frightened

"You have no reason to fear me, child, I will never harm you."

"What happened to me?"

"I told you that I was going to show you what you were to do."

"_You_ did that to me? You had me draw those symbols and had me paralyzed and sent to the hospital?" she was no longer afraid, purely angry.

" I assure you that was not the desired effect. When you wake the stasis lock will end."

"You scared me! That was the worst feeling I could possibly imagine! I thought I was going to be put on life support and become a freaking vegetable because of you!" she fumed.

"I assure you it will not happen again."

"Oh the hell it won't! You can't just do that to a person! You could have at least warned me, you _ass_!"

"I did warn you." He said coolly.

"No you didn't you just made me have a seizure!"

"What was the feeling you had before you started drawing?" he asked.

"Pain, fear, like I was becoming a puppet." Terra growled,

"And before that?" he asked.

"Nothing, I was just swatting at some bugs..." she caught herself. "That was it? That's not a very good warning."

"It was the best I could do in the time I had."

"But why then?"

"You were with an Autobot and your cousin was speaking with a Prime. It was the perfect moment I could have possibly had gotten."

"Why did you give me a bloody nose?"

"That was another unexpected side effect."

"Uh-huh. So you still want me to 'awaken you' or are you willing to rest now that the Fallen is dead?"

The creature set her on the ground and looked at her carefully.

"There is something far worse than The Fallen coming on the horizon. Your mission is more urgent than ever. I need you to awaken me or else the entire galaxy and the ones surrounding could be at stake now."

"Where are you at least, maybe I can find you."

"In good time." He said and walked away.

** ...**

Terra woke up in the morning to find that Mikalea had kept her promise of staying with her and fell asleep in the chair next to the bed. Terra stroked her cousin's dark hair wishing she hadn't made her sleep in such an uncomfortable place. Mikalea woke up and beamed when finding her cousin able to move again.

"How are you feeling?" Terra asked her.

"I thought I was supposed to ask _you_ that."

Terra smiled. "You told me a great story last night. I didn't know that Sam was actually running from his car that day he crashed on the sidewalk outside McDonalds."

Mikalea grinned.

"So did you ask the prime who he was?"

"Yes, and he's not a prime."

"He's not?" Mikalea was surprised.

"Then who is he?" she asked.

"I don't know, he wouldn't tell me."

"Well, why is he bothering you?"

"He said that something bad is going to happen. I don't know what or when, but he said that the galaxy is at risk."

Mikalea thought for a moment. "Well where is he? Did you ask him?"

"He wouldn't tell me."

A doctor walked in and motioned towards Mikalea.

"Oh, Terra I'd like you to meet Ratchet."

"It is a pleasure." Ratchet smiled and held out a hand in greeting.

"Nice to meet you. Odd, you are shorter than I would have expected." Terra smiled.

"You told her?" he turned to Mikalea.

"I'm sorry. She was afraid of the one that was in her dreams, and she already kind of knew about Bumblebee, I mean he holoformed right in front of her..."

"Hey I didn't mean to get her in trouble, I won't tell, I swear."

Ratchet sighed. "Let me look at you." He leaned towards her and shined a light in her eye and throat.

"Well.. You seem to be just fine. Might I ask you the name of the bot in your dreams?"

"He won't tell me. All I know is that he's at least two stories high, only silver, has blue eyes, and isn't one of the Primes."

"Well you do have some unusual energy levels..." he stopped talking altogether. _This cannot be possible!_

"It looks as if an incredibly small piece of the allspark had somehow managed to lodge itself into the back of your mind!" he started "...it could be responsible for these visions. What did he tell you in your dream?" he asked eagerly.

"Well the first few times he said he wanted me to 'awaken' him. But just last night he said that something really bad is going to happen."

Ratchet was silent.

"I will be giving Prime my report. I will be in contact with you as soon as possible. You can leave. Goodbye." With that, he left.

Terra looked at Mikalea.

"Is that a bad thing?" she asked.

"With Ratchet, you never know." Mikalea laughed. "Are you ready to go home now?"

"Sure just let me get dressed real quick okay."

"I'll be outside with Bee. He was really worried about you."

"Why?" Terra asked.

"Well, he felt bad that he didn't help you when.. Well, you know."

"Right."

"Would you like to get to meet him? Officially?"

"Um... I guess... okay, sure." Terra said hesitantly...

They stopped at the hill they were at last night and got out.

"Okay Terra, Bumblebee is going to transform now. Don't panic and try and stay calm. Okay?" Mikalea tried to soothe.

"okay." Terra took a deep breath. "I'm ready."

"Okay, Bumblebee..."

Suddenly the yellow camaro shifted and changed shape before Terra's eyes. She took a step back. The car morphed and changed shape into an enormous robot.

"Terra, meet Bumblebee."

Bumblebee knelt down and leaned towards the two girls.

"He-hello." Terra stuttered.

Bumblebee nodded towards her and looked at her with a look of concerned and guilt.

"She's fine, Bee. You can relax." Mikalea grinned.

"It's not your fault. It was all his." Terra said pointing to her head. Bumblebee made what sounded like a laugh.

"Great, a giant alien robot thinks _I'm_ weird." Terra started grumbling about irony.

"-_Try to laugh about it now. Isn't it funny how everything works out-."_ His said through the radio.

Terra laughed...

They drove home and were greeted by a mob of three little red-headed children and two large brunette children.

"We were so worried about you.""Terra how are you feeling?" "Are you going to be alright?" "What do you have that made you go into that coma?" "Are you going to die?" the last one came from Mary.

"I'm fine, yes, I think I'll be alright, I don't know what put me in a coma, and... no I hope I'm not going to die, why would you ask that?"

"Because if you die, I got first dibs on your room" Mary smiled innocently.

"You are a very twisted girl." Danny said he was holding his egg sandwich.

"I know, and I don't think you should eat the sandwich mom made for you."

He then offered it to Lizzy who quickly refused.

"Thank you." Mary smiled snatching it from him and taking a large bite out of it.

"I thought you poisoned it." He stared.

"No, I just said you shouldn't eat it." She smiled.

"Very twisted."

Everyone took a step away from the girl...

A few days passed when Mikalea got the call from Ratchet. She was hanging out with Terra, Lizzy, and Bee at the mall. They had introduced him as Bee, short for Bradley, who was a mute. He and Lizzy got along well and he had played the part of the trapped boyfriend very well in the clothes department and gave opinion to whatever the three girls tried on.

They were in the music store when Mikalea got the call.

"Hello?" she asked looking at a Nickleback CD

"_Mikalea? It's Ratchet."_ She put the CD back and immediately tensed.

"Hey. So what did you find?"

"_She is being assigned a guardian as we speak."_

"Really? Who?" she motioned for Terra to come over.

"_I will need you to come up here for a while to brief him on his new charge."_

"okay."

Terra made silent motions of refusal.

"Hold on just a moment please."

"What is it?" she asked.

"I just got you back, and now your leaving again?" Terra asked.

"Only for a few days, two at max I promise. It's to meet your new guardian."

Bumblebee was next to them at the words new guardian.

"Hey, I'm back. How long am I going to be there for?"

"_Just two days, you will be meeting up with him and will tell him about her on the way."_

"That doesn't sound too bad. Alright, when should I leave?"

"_Tomorrow. I will have Bumblebee take you if you like."_

"No that's fine I'll fly out... so can her family know about all of you then?" Mikalea, Terra and Bumblebee crossed their fingers.

"_Yes. It would make things easier for when he gets there."_

"Who is he?" Mikalea pressed.

"_I have to go, I'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye." _He hung up.

"Well, who's my guardian?" Terra asked eagerly.

"I don't know yet, but Bumblebee is going to stay with you while I go and get him, okay."

"Sure, okay. Cool." Terra smiled at Bumblebee who in turn gave her a hug around the neck. Lizzy walked into the isle they were in.

"Hey guys, did I miss something?" she asked.

"Oh you are going to have one heck of a ride home!"

Oh my_ god_!

Can you believe this chapter alone has exactly seven thousand and five words in it?

I am so tired.

Anyway,

Guess who Terra's new guardian is.

For a lot of you who are thinking this,

No Terra and Bumblebee are not going to get together.

They are just friends, and that is all they will ever be.

Hope you liked this chapter.

Please review and be as brutal as you want about it.


	4. never wanted

_I never wanted a Guardian Angel. I didn't ask for one. One was assigned to me__.__  
_**-**Mercedes McCambridge

After Ratchet gave Prime his report, he suggested that the child be placed in protective custody for further tests. They were at Diego Garcia, in Ratchet's med bay, which wasn't much more than a sectioned off part of an airplane hangar that he was permitted to use until the more permanent base was finally finished in Alaska. The room was sectioned off into two parts by a white curtain. The section they were in had three tables at Autobot size full of large and small tools, and one berth, which at the time was occupied by an extremely irritated weapon specialist with a moderate chest wound, who was currently trying to distract himself by looking out the only small window in the room.

"I don't think that would be best for the child." Prime said, "Perhaps if we assign someone to her that can run the necessary tests without bothering her or her family."

"But I can't leave, I have too much to do here, and I need Jolt here to help me, so he has to stay as well." Ratchet said.

"What about Sideswipe?" Ironhide offered glancing at them.

"Unfortunately, Sideswipe has neither the patience nor the skills to learn how to conduct the tests I need." Ratchet sighed. "The Twins are definitely out."

"Arcee then," Prime said. "She has the basic knowledge of human anatomy, and you could teach her to run the tests you need. She will be recovered by then, correct?"

"I'm afraid not. All three of her is in recovery right now and won't be able to leave the med bay for another week and she is restricted from field work for a month." Ratchet glanced at the curtained off area where she was now resting.

"Who does that leave?" Prime asked.

"Ironhide, I'm afraid." They both looked at the weapons specialist.

"But my injuries won't be fully healed until-"

"You will be able to leave today." Ratchet interrupted "You injuries weren't as bad as I first assumed. You are a quick enough learner that I will teach you the required skills before the end of the day."

"I hate children. I can hardly tolerate adult humans."

"Then this will help you learn why they deserve our respect." Prime said.

"I mean no disrespect, sir, they are rather intelligent for their primitive age, but I simply dislike them." Ironhide propped himself up on his elbow.

"By the time you get to know this child and her family, I'm sure you will change your opinion about them." Prime said.

Ironhide sighed, "yes, sir."

"Very well, I will leave you two now." With that, Prime left the med bay.

Ratchet proceeded to work on Ironhide's chest and talk to him about the certain tests he needed to run and what time intervals to do them at. Later on, after Ironhide had been cleared to leave, Ratchet called Mikaela.

"_Hello?" _She answered.

"**Mikaela, It's Ratchet**." He said.

"_Hey. So what did you find?" _ She was obviously concerned.

"**She is being assigned a guardian as we speak**." Just then the Twins stormed into the med bay.

"I'll teach you to mess wit mah face while I'z sleepin!" Skids yelled, tackling Mudflap to the ground.

"_Really, Who?" _Mikaela asked.

Ratchet couldn't hear her while he tried to catch the obnoxious younglings.

"**I will need you up here for a while to brief him on his new charge**."

"_Okay. Hold on just one moment please." _ Mikaela said.

Mudflap dodged the medic's grasp and shot for the curtained off area with his brother close behind.

"Scramble bro! He'll take yo apart then eat yo parts as a snack and _then_ he'll kill ya!" Mudflap yelled.

All three of Arcee yelled in shock at the two as Ratchet ran in struggling to catch them.

"Do you need help Ratchet?" she asked. She tried to get up but simply groaned in pain and slowly lay back down.

"Stay down Arcee, you are supposed to be resting." He said as he finally made contact with Skids' arm and picked him up.

"Yo! Bro! Help! I've been caught!" he screeched.

"That's not possible at the moment!" Arcee said covering her audio sensors.

"_Hey, I'm back."_ Mikaela said over the phone. "_How long am I going to be there for?" _she asked.

Mudflap ran and tackled Ratchet's leg making him drop Skids on top of his brother. The two ran in opposite directions with Skids knocking over a table and spilling tools everywhere.

"**Just** **two days, you will be meeting up with him and tell him about her on the way**." He said._ There's no possible chance I'd have you have to deal with this more than necessary. _He thought to himself as he found Mudflap on top of the only birth in the sectioned off area.

"_That doesn't sound too bad." _She said. _"Alright, when should I leave?" _

"**Tomorrow, I'll have Bumblebee take you if you like**." He said knowing Bumblebee was one of the few that were actually capable of catching the Twins.

"_No that's fine I'll fly out."_ She said.

_No! _Ratchet thought.

"_So can her family know about all of you then?" _ She asked sounding hopeful.

"**Yes. It would make it easier for when he gets there**." He said. "Sideswipe, Get in here and help me!" he yelled off the comm. Link.

"_Who is he?" _ Mikaela asked.

"**I have to go, I'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye**." Ratchet said as he leaped towards one of the younglings.

Sideswipe was there in an instant. "What?" he was cut off as Mudflap made a mad dash for the doorway with his brother. Sideswipe moved out of the way quickly as not to be run down by the half crazed younglings. After they were gone he looked at the medic that had called him.

"Go get them." Ratchet said slowly. "And bring them back here to clean my med bay and be dismantled."

"Uh-y-yes sir!" Sideswipe knew all too well what the medic could do to a troublesome youngling, most punishments he thought rather drastic were often used in his younger decades, from cleaning the med bay all day every day until you forget why you are being punished, to working for Ironhide with excruciating weapons training or even helping Optimus with some odd jobs, Prowl would always simply throw them in the brig, all punishments were for the exact same amount of time, Eternity, in Sideswipe's point of view.

After Sideswipe left, Ratchet made a call to Prime. "**Ratchet to Prime."**

"_**What is wrong Ratchet?" **_Optimus asked knowing it could only be bad news if it were over a private comm. Link.

"**The Twins were just in here and I would like to know if you have anything that will need cleaning for the next few millennia." **

"_**I'm sure I can find something."**_ Ratchet could hear the amusement in his leader's voice. "_**The weapons will need proper maintenance with Ironhide leaving, and I believe there are a few human soldiers that might have a few ideas for their punishment afterward."**_

"**That would do nicely." ** Ratchet smiled.

Sideswipe came into the med bay with a struggling twin in each hand.

"You traitor you said you would help us!" Mudflap yelled in his right hand.

"Trust me. I am helping you. It's called trying-to-escape-will-only-make-it-worse treatment. My brother and I made all the moves you could possibly think of, the old bots know all the tricks." Sideswipe set them in front of Ratchet and left quickly not wanting to witness the harsh and completely processor melting punishment the medic might have come up with.

Ironhide drove into the sunny town of Tranquility listening to Mikaela, sitting in the driver's seat, as she reminded him _again _of the family he was going to live with. The planned two days she was supposed to have been given were cut to the point that almost right when she got off the plane they were headed to Nevada once again, the fault rests entirely with the Twins harassing her about letting them come with her.

"...and Millie and the Twins have asthma, the baby Gabriel is really sweet and always wants to be held, Lizzy has an attitude so don't take whatever she says personally, I just try to ignore her." Mikaela smiled, "Danny is the oldest and is also a mechanic and usually works at the shop all day with my dad and I, and my aunt Martha is really kind, you will love her, and my uncle is a mechanic for the military. Take a right here." She pointed to the road he was to take.

They turned onto a road which had very few houses on it. They continued down the road until the houses became less and less common. They stopped at the last house the end of the road that sat parallel to a grassy lot on the other side of the road sectioned off by trees on every side. There were no other houses in view of the house he was to live near. It was a two story house painted a mint green color. The three car garage was connected to the side of the house. There was a large front yard with a small flower garden along the edge of the house. There was a wooden front porch with a swing on it where a light haired teenage girl was sitting with a baby in her arms, a large bull mastiff at her feet. She seemed to be watching Bumblebee who was in the vacant lot across from the house in his true form playing with three small children, two of which appeared to be exactly alike and he assumed were the Twins, Mary and Maine, and the smaller of the three to be Mellissa. The children appeared to be playing a war game of sorts, apparently Bumblebee was losing. When they drove into the driveway, Mikaela got out and immediately announced that she was home.

"Did you miss me?" she called out.

The three girls in the lot ran to her and wrapped their thin freckled little arms around her waist. Bumblebee straightened and looked towards Ironhide in surprise. The girl on the porch walked towards them. Now that she was closer, Ironhide could see that her shoulder length hair was a very pale blonde color almost what humans call platinum but was obviously natural. She had crystal blue eyes and a soft narrow face. She had a very faint tan, and was wearing a short sleeve white t-shirt and jeans. He assumed this was Terra. The baby in her arms had rust brown hair and brilliant green eyes and was reaching its chubby arms out for Mikaela, Gabriel. The front door opened and a blood red haired woman came out with a smile on her pale face. The three girls hugging Mikaela had almost an identical resemblance to this woman except their freckles were more apparent and more common across their noses and cheek bones. They all had the same vivid green eyes as the baby. He could safely assume this was their mother, Martha.

"It's good to see you Mikaela..." Martha started, "Bumblebee, I got a call from Judy. You're needed to help repair the hole in Sam's room and the garage, remember?"

Bumblebee's shoulder wings slouched and he made a pathetic metallic groan.

"Everyone, I'd like for you to meet Ironhide, he is Terra's new guardian." Mikaela said gesturing behind her as she held Gabriel.

Ironhide transformed, the new scars across his face and chest plates all too apparent, he nodded his greeting towards the family around him. The three girls standing near Mikaela took a step back in awe.

"He's a _lot_ taller than bumblebee." one girl said then quickly turned towards Bumblebee. "You said that _you_ were the tallest one!"

Bumblebee transformed and quickly sped away down the road. When Bumblebee was out of sight of the house, Martha went back inside.

The girl turned back to Ironhide.

"He's scared of me." She smiled and held out her hand in greeting. "I'm Mary."

"A pleasure." Ironhide grumbled.

Mary frowned and looked down rubbing her shoulder with the hand he didn't take.

"So you're here to watch Terra?" the smaller girl he assumed was Millie asked her big green eyes looking up at him with innocence.

"Yes." He said flatly.

The other girl, Maine, frowned and looked down. "So... are you, like-"

Before she could finish the question the front door opened and a short but thin brunette girl in a neon green bikini top and jean shorts, Elizabeth, came rushing out with an older near black haired boy in blue jean shorts and no shirt, Daniel, following close behind her towards the car with a towel over his shoulder and carrying a cloth beach bag. They both stopped in their tracks to stare at Ironhide. Ironhide looked at them and nodded. They both had the same sky blue eyes. Lizzy was the first to make a move and looked towards Mary.

"Are you coming or what?" she asked glancing back at Ironhide.

Mary straightened. "Oh-no, give me five minutes and I'll be right back. I need my swimsuit." With that she ran into the house with Maine and Millie in hot pursuit.

"Where are you going?" Mikaela asked bouncing the baby on her hip.

"To the lake." Danny said still staring at Ironhide. "You want to come?" He asked.

Mikaela looked at Terra with concern. "No, I think Terra and I will stay behind today, sorry."

The three girls came running outside sooner than Ironhide expected with the same type of swimsuit on, a light green one piece with blue and pink flowers on the shoulders and sides.

"Mikaela are you gonna come with us? Please, please?" They asked eagerly.

"Sorry guys, not today." She said. The three girls began to pout. Mikaela quickly searched for a reason. "I don't have a swimsuit with me."

"Oh, I have one you can borrow." Lizzy suggested.

"What about Terra?" Mikaela asked quickly.

"Its fine, I can stay here." Her voice was soft and wavering.

"Oh, no, Terra, why don't you come too?" Lizzy asked then turned to Ironhide "why not we all just go to the lake and just call it the event-of-the-day."

"Terra, how do you feel about it?" Mikaela asked.

Terra sighed as though making an unpleasant decision. "Sure, fine, I'll go." She sounded as though she wanted the opposite...

The lake was a clear, open area with plenty of space for them to enjoy themselves; there was only one tree in the area that they chose surrounded by shrubs and grasses, that had a rope attached to it for swinging into the water. Everyone except for Mikaela and Terra drove to the lake in Terra's old yellowish/orange compact while Mikaela and Terra went with Ironhide. Terra was relatively quiet sitting in the passenger seat letting Mikaela do the talking (which left them in some relative silence as well) as she 'drove' to the lake listening to the radio. When they got there they met with Sam's old long haired friend Miles who was sitting in a paddle boat near the edge of the water. He waved and hopped out of the boat to stand near Terra's car. He was wearing an orange shirt with green swim trunks on and brown sandals.

Terra got out as they came to a stop and waited for Mikaela. Terra was wearing a white tank top and jean shorts with her swimsuit underneath. There were deep but old scars all along her legs that she seemed all too aware of and tried to hide. Mikaela never mentioned scars and Ironhide began to wonder why. Lizzy jumped out of the car and held the seat up so that the Twins in the back could get out. Danny got out of the driver's seat and began pulling the bag out of the back and got Millie out of her car seat.

When everyone was out of their cars, Mikaela and Terra set up a blanket for them to sit on while the Twins and Millie went swimming with Lizzy. Danny and Miles played with a football that was stored in the beach bag along with the blanket and several snacks. Terra sat at the edge of the blanket farthest from the water and Ironhide noticed that her heart rate was slowly increasing as she stared at it. When he noticed Miles' back was turned he slowly rolled nearer to her.

"Are you alright?" he asked quietly over the radio. Hearing him behind her, Terra jumped in surprise then relaxed slightly.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. I'm just not a big fan of swimming, that's all." Terra watched as the Twins found their way into Miles' faded blue-grey boat that sat halfway onto shore.

"Be careful girls!" she called out.

They looked at her as if she were an over protective mother.

"Don't worry, Terra, I don't think it can sink anymore." Lizzy rolled her eyes sitting in the water next to the boat.

"Terra, relax, their fine." Miles smiled at her then noticed Ironhide's proximity to her and where he was before. "Hey, Terra, careful it looks like you forgot the E-brake." He said walking towards the large truck.

"Uh-oops." She said getting up and opening his driver side door.

"I have to say though, that's a really cool truck you got there." Miles said looking through the passenger window.

"At least it isn't orange." Lizzy smirked looking at Terra's old compact. Ironhide's engine rumbled softly with annoyance.

"Yeah," Mary smiled. "Hey Terra, can you come with us?" she asked as Lizzy began to try to push them away from shore.

"No, I'm afraid not." Terra said faintly. Ironhide could tell there was something wrong, Terra's heart rate had just spiked and her temperature increased.

"Please?" Maine begged "it will be no fun without you."

"No, I-I can't girls, sorry." Terra took a step back. Something was wrong and Ironhide knew it, he just couldn't understand why though.

"But please?" Millie gave her what humans call puppy eyes.

Terra was obviously torn. "I can't." Terra insisted.

"Hey guys you can go on ahead without her." Mikaela said coming to Terra's rescue. "She doesn't want to go."

"Can she at least come help me push them off into the lake?" Lizzy grunted, pulling on the back of the boat. "I don't know how the hell Miles got this thing stuck in the mud so deep."

"I didn't." Miles said tossing the ball to Danny. "I just found it here a few days ago. Nobody came for it so I tried to take it, I couldn't get it out either, but if you can, it' all yours."

"Yay!" Maine said hopping up and down. "Terra, Mickey, please, just push us off, that's all, please?" she begged.

"Fine." Mikaela said and walked towards them. Terra was extremely reluctant but followed her cousin's lead.

Terra stood next to the boat and began to push it off when she noticed the four feet of water that she was leaning over between her and the boat.

"Just ignore it Terra." Mikaela soothed next to her.

Terra couldn't ignore it. She stared into the water in petrified horror. She could see the flashback and hear the screams of that helpless small girl that came with it. The water turned a cloudy red and her legs and stomach ached with pain, she could taste the blood on her tongue and smell the gas exhaust from the speed boat. Unknown to her, Mikaela and Lizzy had managed to free the boat she was leaning against and it shot into the water taking her with it. Terra screamed in pure terror as she fell into the bloody water and immediately began trying to scramble back onto land. The boys ran over to her to try and help but were beat to it by a dark haired man that appeared out of nowhere and yanked Terra completely out of the water by the arm onto dry land.

"Terra, what the hell happened? Are you alright?" Miles asked handing her a towel. She sat on the ground hugging her legs with a blank but frightened expression on her face as if she were in a trance.

"Terra, I'm so sorry." Mikaela said sitting next to her and wrapping her arm around her. The man that caught Terra stood behind them with a frighteningly annoyed yet protective look on his face as he watched them.

Terra looked at her white shirt. Her swimsuit was visible, but she was not surprised by the odd lack of bloody water on her shirt. She looked up at the man that saved her. He reminded her of the actor that played Wolverine in the _X-Men_. He had blue eyes and was clean shaven with a short buzz cut and a scar running down his right temple. He was wearing a black t-shirt and jeans with standard black boots Terra had seen her father wear often. She rubbed the spot on her arm where he grabbed her knowing that it would become a bruise.

"Who are you?" Miles asked trying to look bigger than his scrawny self.

"None of your concern." The man said in a gruff voice. He hadn't even looked at Miles.

"Mikaela, I-I want to go home." Terra squeaked.

"I'll take you." The man said.

Mikaela nodded to him.

"I don't think so." Danny said, putting on his pathetic attempt to look bigger as well. "Who are you?" he demanded.

The man grabbed Danny by the arm and pulled him close. "Your damn truck, that's who!" he growled quietly as not to let Miles hear.

"Oh..." was all Danny could say.

"Hey, is Terra alright?" Lizzy called from the middle of the lake.

"Yeah, she's going home!" Danny called back when Ironhide released him.

"Already?" Mary asked struggling to stand in the wobbling boat.

Mikaela helped Terra to her feet and lead her to Ironhide's passenger side. Ironhide's holoform got into the driver's side and drove away. When they were far enough away, Ironhide glanced at the silent and obviously still petrified human and sighed.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I-I have hydrophobia." Terra murmured faintly.

"You're afraid of water?" Ironhide had heard of it but never actually met anyone with a phobia. "Why?"

"When I was little, I almost drowned." She said faintly. "I don't like to talk about it."

"Alright." Ironhide said. The rest of the drive to Terra's house was in silence.

When they got to the house, Ironhide drove into the garage and opened the door for Terra. Terra simply got out and plopped herself down on the couch in the garage and cried herself to sleep, Ironhide, not willing to bother her anymore, let her rest.

Terra had another dream that night.

She was in the desert again, this time it seemed to be about twilight. The metal creature was there again but this time he looked as if he had doubled in size to over four stories high.

"You have a protector now." He said.

Terra sat on the ground hugging her legs and stared at the light colored sand she was sitting in, she was on one of the lines, the line was completely straight and was wider than an airport landing strip.

"I don't want one though." She mumbled.

The not-a-Prime then turned to sand and recollected into its former self now only six feet tall. He walked towards her and knelt down to look her in the eye.

"Why do you not want a guardian?" he asked.

"Because," she said looking him straight in the eye. "I don't want the reason he is here, and he obviously doesn't want to be here either."

Not-a-Prime sighed and stood. "I have no other choice in who I communicate with. You must understand, I am greatly ashamed of what I am doing to you, I do not wish to harm you." He looked at her.

"You have a fear that you had met today." he asked changing the subject.

Terra looked down. "I don't know what you are talking about."

He leaned towards her. "Tell me, and I will tell you who I am."

Terra sighed and began to tell the tale of her fear of water and boats.

"I was six years old." She started. "Mikaela and I were swimming at the lake we were at today. Lizzy and our dads were cooking hamburgers and hotdogs for some community father-daughter picnic thing that we were at when Mickey and I decided to have a race to see who could make it across the lake first. You can understand that neither of us are very good swimmers so by the time we made it to the center of the lake, it was time for us to head back to eat. When we started heading back, a speed boat came and the driver didn't move to avoid us and." she stopped.

"And you were injured." Not-Prime said.

"The boat went straight over me. I was sucked underneath it and I was caught up in the propeller." She looked at her legs. The scars seemed to glow red suddenly and then faded away.

"I was in the hospital for months because of that driver. The propeller cut through my legs and sides like butter. Thank god Mikaela was such a better swimmer than me and was about five feet away from me and was missed completely, the driver didn't even stop. But the scary part is that I didn't black out or anything, I was awake from the moment I was sucked under the boat, to the moment the doctors drugged me to sleep at the hospital. I was aware of everything going on, of every pain and every sound. Mikaela was the one who pulled me out of the water and my uncle was the one to track down the boat driver, he never did tell me what happened to him, but there was a report on the news of a man's car being stolen and of his boat being completely dismantled. My dad pretended not to notice it though." She smiled, but the smile faded when she returned to the story.

"The doctors said that I would not be able to fully walk again because so much muscle tissue had been damaged, but Mikaela refused to believe that and helped me when I got home. I owe my life to her, she helped me learn to walk again whenever we had the chance, my parents found out about what she was doing and helped too, but I would not be here if it weren't for Mikaela. She's been watching out for me ever since. We were seven when I was able to completely walk again and we had a sleepover to celebrate, that's when Uncle Mike was arrested. The SWAT team had barged in and just grabbed her and my uncle while we were playing checkers. They just grabbed us and took them away without a word."Terra was staring at the ground, her eyes glassed over with tears.

"I didn't even get to say goodbye." She sniffed and looked up at Not-a-Prime. "A year later Mikaela was allowed to leave juvenile and my dad decide she could stay with us as long as she wanted to, she's the only one that ever knew that I was afraid of water, that is, until today...Well, I told you my story, now tell me yours."

"I have told you before that I am not a Prime." He started, "But that is not completely true."

Terra looked at him in confusion.

"I am not a Prime, I am the Prime."

Just then Terra woke finding herself in her bedroom; she looked around and found Ironhide's holoform sitting on the edge of her bed.

"What's wrong?" she asked her eyes unable to open completely.

"I forgot to get a blood sample from you before you fell asleep." He whispered as though not to wake someone.

"I'm awake, why are you whispering?" Terra asked, letting him take her index finger.

"Mikaela is not awake and I would like to keep it that way." He said taking what looked like a needle in the dim room and pricked her finger.

Terra looked around and found that Mikaela was sleeping in the extra bed that was always left on the other side of Terra's room for her.

"Ouch." Terra said and noticed the blood slowly oozing out of her finger. "How did I get to my room?" she asked.

"I carried you here after you fell asleep on the couch downstairs." Ironhide said as he collected the blood sample.

"Oh." She yawned. "When did Mikaela get here?"

"About the same time she told me that I should take you to your room." He said setting her arm back over her stomach.

"Goodnight." He said roughly and got up and silently left the room.

Terra went back to sleep then, not once noticing the six foot metal creature standing in the corner of her room, surprised by where he found himself when she woke. When she went back to sleep, he disappeared back into her dream...

I am so incredibly sorry that this chapter came out so late.

My internet was down here for a long time plus _someone_ stole the computer away to play games for the majority of the time.

I will try harder to keep a schedule.

Sorry for misspelling Mikaela's name, my autocorrect always changed it to that and I never noticed. #P

Let me know if you have any questions or complaints.

Please review and be brutal.


	5. The Truth

"_You may fool all of the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time." _

– _Abraham Lincoln_

Sam sat down at the desk in his dorm and turned on the computer. Glancing around to insure he was alone, he opened the link Mikaela had set up for their date. Mikaela appeared on the screen smiling at him.

"Well, hello, Ms. Banes." He said pulling out a small yellow flower and showing it to her.

"_Hello Mr. Witwicky."_ Mikaela said as she looked at the flower. "_And how was your first week back at college?"_

"Well, it was interesting." He said, "Just today we got a small lecture about liquid-" just then Leo flew into the room and pushed Sam out of his chair.

"Mikaela, oh man you would not _believe_ what had just happened to me, I am going to sue Princeton or something, man it was crazy!" Leo said as his wide eyed face became redder and redder.

"_What happened?" _ Mikaela asked.

"I was about to tell you." Sam groaned on the floor.

"The Professor 'accidentally' dipped his finger in liquid nitrogen! He totally freaked and tapped it on the table where it, like, completely shattered and it was so sick and-..." Leo paused for air.

"_And what?"_ Mikaela asked.

Sam jumped up immediately. "And in the end it turned out that it was a hotdog but you blew chunks anyway, _goodbye,_ Leo!" Sam pushed Leo out of the chair only to be pushed back.

"Stop pushing people, Sam!" Leo yelled.

"Leo! Do you not realize I am currently trying to have a web chat date with my girlfriend?" Sam yelled back.

"_Ladies, calm down!"_ Mikaela yelled. "_I have some bad news. Sam, do you remember my cousin Terra?"_

"Yeah, why?" Sam asked.

"Who's Terra?" Leo asked.

"_My cousin, she somehow ended up with the same... er, illness that you did."_

Sam stared at her through the screen. "That's impossible, how?"

"_We don't know. But she is having similar ...side effects too." _ Mikaela frowned.

"But... I thought... how?" Sam stuttered.

"_I already said 'I don't know' Sam, but she started seeing someone called 'the Prime'." _ Mikaela thought a moment. _"Where did you get infected with the shard?" _

"In my room, but it fell through the floor into the kitchen, is she alright?" Sam asked.

"_She's fine and even already has a guardian."_ Mikaela smiled.

"Who, Sideswipe?" Sam asked.

"_No." _ Mikaela shook her head.

"How about that blue dude, um, Jolt right?" Leo suggested.

"_No_." Mikaela's grin grew.

"Who?" Sam asked eagerly.

"_Ironhide."_

"Ironhide?" Leo asked astounded.

"_Yes. He has been here for a few days now and he and the family get along... okay..."_ Mikaela lied.

"They hate each other, don't they?" Sam asked.

"_Well I wouldn't say that... Terra and Ironhide get along pretty well; it's just that he and Mary have practically become mortal enemies." _ Mikaela said.

"Wow, against Ironhide?" Sam was surprised.

"Wait, you said she has the same thing that Sam did, right?" Leo asked. "Does that mean she is gonna be on some alien hit list or something?"

"_I doubt that seeing how they don't know about her _and_ they are still recovering from the last battle."_ There was a wave of relief on both sides of the link. "_Besides, if they do try anything they have to get through Ironhide first and that just might make me actually feel sorry for the one that loses its limbs for that." _Mikaela laughed slightly.

"Well, nice seeing you Mikaela but I have to talk with Simmons about this new site we're making so... bye!" before Sam or Mikaela could protest, Leo turned off the link and started another.

"Leo! Why can't you use any of the other computers that you have here?" Sam yelled. "You just ruined my date!"

"Sorry, man, but Simmons is having trouble with his computer and I gotta help him." Leo opened the link to a red faced Simmons who was being yelled at by his mother off the computer screen.

"Since when do you and Simmons 'help each other'?" Sam asked.

"Hey, Simmons, what's wrong with it now?" Leo asked.

"_I don't know, what's _always_ wrong with it?" _ Simmons was wearing a white shirt covered in blood with a cleaver knife in his left hand and what appeared to be an organ of sorts in his right. Leo's eyes grew at the gruesome sight in front of him. "Simmons, what is that?" Leo asked knowing he would regret asking.

"_This?" _Simmons held up the handful of bloody meat. "They're _Pig intestines."_

Leo gagged and coughed in disgust as Sam quickly grabbed the waste basket and gave it to him.

"Wow Leo, I didn't know you had anything left after today." Sam chuckled.

"Mr. President we have a situation." Galloway walked into the oval office carrying an armful of files.

"Ah, Galloway." The President briefly glanced up from his desk. _I see that they decided to keep you. _He thought.

"There are protests forming about the recent alien attacks." Galloway set the files on his desk. "Our cover-up story about a common hacker doesn't seem all that believable enough for most people. Some are even starting to figure it out."

"What do you think we should do then?" he asked now giving Galloway his full attention.

"We need a new story, one more believable this time." Galloway stated.

_Well I knew that much._ The president thought to himself. "What do you have in mind?" he asked.

Galloway paused for a moment. "I... I don't know, but we need to think of something fast."

The president looked down in a moment of thought. "I need to talk with my cabinet about this, meet me back here in one hour."

"Yes sir." And with that, Galloway left.

...

When Galloway was called back he was confronted by the president and his cabinet all standing around the room with mixed expressions on their faces. Before they even spoke, Galloway knew exactly what they were about to do. It was the Secretary of Defense that first spoke.

"Galloway, we all know that you dislike the Autobots, but we need you to arrange a talk with Optimus Prime." He said.

"Are you going to do what I think you are?" Galloway was appalled.

"They have the right." the president started.

"There will be mass hysteria! There will be nothing but panic and riots, we will have to resort to martial law!-sir." Galloway's pasty face became red.

"I have more faith in the people of this planet than that, and so does Prime from what I heard, you should too." The president said looking at Galloway. "I will have a speech ready by this time tomorrow. You are dismissed, Galloway."

"Yes, sir." Reluctantly, Galloway left.

...

The next day.

...

Optimus sat in his alt mode next to the podium where the President was, listening to speech the president made explaining what really happened in Mission city and Egypt, waiting patiently for his time. There was a large crowd of reporters in front of them with cameras filming live across the entire planet. A flag hung behind them, as they stood in front of the Whitehouse.

He knew exactly what the president was risking with this announcement and why he was doing this, and for that, respected him.

He was a leader, making a risk that involved his reputation and what little respect his country had for him since he took office. Optimus had done his research on human leaders, all apparently having a flaw or making a mistake of sorts which made at least a half of the people they ruled over despise them. Knowing this, Optimus began to wonder why most humans he commonly associates with believe that they would do such a better job being leader than the other. Every leader has flaws, even he did, and it is a part of being a living being to have flaws. Each leader he has crossed paths with (with exceptions) did and does what they believed was fair and just, a true leader lives solely for the ones they lead and will do almost anything to protect the lives and the rights of the people. This was what this president was currently doing, and Optimus knew, even though the existence of his kind has been kept a secret by near every president before him, he was the one that was going to be blamed, hated, and possibly even threatened, because he is the current leader and he was the one to whom the blame must _always_ go.

"…And now, I give you the leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime." The President gestured to Prime.

Prime rolled forward next to the President and transformed...

"Oh my god." Lizzy said watching a report about the president's speech earlier that day. "Danny, Mom, Twins, Millie, Terra, Ironhide, get in here!" she yelled.

Bumblebee and Ironhide's holoform appeared next to where she sat on the couch looking ready to kill. Terra came running down the stairs with the twins stumbling behind her and Millie racing ahead.

"What's wrong Lizzy?" asked Martha as she ran inside from the backyard with Gabe in her arms, Spike lumbering in behind her.

"Look!" she said pointing to the picture of Optimus that came onto the screen.

"Cool!" Mary yelled out.

"Shush!" Martha said, her eyes glued to the screen. "Listen."

"_That was the scene here today…" _the female reporter said with an almost immovably plastic face. "_When the president revealed that there are in fact beings not of this planet living among us…"_

The screen then went to a clip of Optimus transforming and getting flashed repeatedly by cameras. The TV camera suddenly turned to a reporter in the crowd that fainted while a few others gasped and yelled in shock and fear.

"This is wild." Danny said.

"What's going to happen now?" Maine asked looking at Ironhide.

"I will contact Prime later on and find out." Ironhide said. "But I am sure things will remain the same."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Lizzy asked in her all too often used harsh tone of voice. "Just pretend nothing happened?"

"Yes." Ironhide glared.

"I'm going to talk to Mikaela." Terra said leaving the room.

"I can't believe it." Mikaela repeated for the second time.

"You have to call Sam and let him know."Terra said.

"Right, let's hope Leo won't boot me off this time." Mikaela mumbled as she opened up the link to Sam's computer. Terra sat in the swivel chair next to her so that she would be visible in the screen.

"_Hey! Who are you?" _a nerdy, long haired boy came onto the screen.

"Who are you?" Mikaela asked.

"_The name's Sharksky." _He said, trying and failing to look cool.

"Right, do you know where Sam is?" Terra asked impatiently.

"_No, I think he's at the library." _Sharksky said, his cool guy façade vanishing.

"How about Leo?" Mikaela sighed.

"_He's right here." _Sharksky turned away from the computer screen. "_Yo, Leo, some hot chicks wanna talk to you!"_

There was a crashing sound and Sharksky was nearly thrown out of the way of the screen.

"_And what do I owe this-" _Leo stopped himself immediately._ "Oh, hi Mikaela." _

"Have you seen the news?" Mikaela asked.

"_Are you kidding?" Sharksky snorted, "He made his own _program_ designed just for picking up anything to do with aliens, of course we've seen the news." He said leaving the room with an armful of sodas and a bag of potato chips._

Leo looked towards Terra. "_So, you are Mikaela's cousin." _He smiled his dorky smile. "_I am Leo Ponce De Léon Spitz."_

"Save the act Romeo, we are not here to flirt." Mikaela said. "Did Sam see the news too?"

"_Nah, I'm pretty sure he's in the library right now." _Just then Sam crashed through the door with the most terrified look on his face.

"_Leo! Turn on the TV, now!"_ he yelled.

"_Actually, here he is now." _Leo said turning to Sam.

"_Dude, we already know about the president's speech, okay? Chill man." Leo said. "Oh, and your girlfriend's on the computer."_ Leo got up from the computer to go back to what he was doing before as Sam flew into the chair.

"_Mikaela, did you see the news_?" Sam asked breathlessly.

"That's what we wanted to talk to you about, have you heard from Optimus any?" Mikaela asked.

"_no_." Sam said. _"But I did get a call from Lennox. He was with his wife and kid when he saw the news; he's how I found out."_

"Why did they come out with it now?" Mikaela asked.

"_beats me." Sam said._

" _The totally weak excuse they made for the remodeling of the pyramids probably didn't slide for those of the world with an IQ higher than twelve." _Leo smirked.

"we weren't talking to you, Leo." Mikaela said. "so what did Lennox say?"

"_he said he got a call from Optimus saying that they were going to reveal the Autobots and the whole NEST project to the public, but they weren't going to give the names of the people involved." Sam said._

"oh, well that's good news." Terra said.

"_oh! I almost forgot_!" Sam said realizing Terra was there. "_Terra, where did you get infected with-"_ he stopped himself. _"um… that illness_?" he asked carefully.

"I don't remember." Terra said. "I remember getting bitten by your blender." She suggested.

"_I don't think that could have done this…" _Sam said. "_what do you remember before that?" _

"well, when I was looking for some trash bags I think I slipped and hit my head on the floor." Terra said. "I came home and the back of my head was bleeding."

"_where on the back of your head?" _Sam asked.

Terra swiveled around in the chair and pulled her blonde hair up to show the spot on the back of her head. "here." She said pointing to the spot where her head and neck joined.

"_that looks like a hard place to hit when your falling on a flat surface." Leo's head popped into the computer screen._

"isn't that where ratchet said the fragment of… the… broken … piece of glass was?" Mikaela asked carefully, knowing they were on an open link.

"yes, it is." Terra said catching on to what her cousin was saying.

"_where did you say you fell again?" _Sam asked.

"in the kitchen next to the island." Terra answered. Before Sam could say anything Mikaela was out of the view of the computer screen looking for her phone.

Judy was making dinner for her and her husband to replace their failed second honeymoon in Paris, this time she was going Italian with a big pasta dish with garlic bread and a nice salad with a side of steamed vegetables and a homemade pizza. Ron was out to buy some wine for dinner and some spices that she needed to finish off the meals.

She set a plastic bag of uncooked spaghetti on the island as she searched for a pot big enough for the amount of spaghetti she wanted to make. Finding one she went to the sink to fill it with water when the phone rang.

"hello?" she asked cheerfully.

"_Mrs. Witwicky?" _Mikaela asked.

"oh, hi dear. What can I do for you?" Judy asked filling the pot with water.

"_can you look in the kitchen, please?" _ Mikaela asked sounding worried. _" above the island, in the ceiling?"_

Judy looked up and could see the allspark-fragment-shaped hole in the ceiling. "is this about that allspar-" Mikaela cut her off.

"yes, it is. Can you trace to where it might have landed?" Mikaela asked.

"I'm sure, dear that it isn't here, if that is what you're asking." Judy set the now full pot on the stove and turned it on.

"_could you check anyway, please?"_

Judy, looked and did in fact find where it would have been, Right where the pasta was. Judy suddenly felt very conscious of that little fact and carefully picked up the bag to find that the bottom of it had started to melt.

"oh my god!" Judy dropped the bag and the phone on the ground and looked at the small, almost invisible spot on the tile counter where the allspark fragment had landed.

"_Mrs. Witwicky?" Mikaela asked over the phone. "Mrs. Witwicky, are you alright?"_

Judy picked up the phone with shaking hands. "Mikaela, can you please come over here" she asked. "and bring Terra and her guardian please." With that, she hung up.

…

Mikaela, Terra, and Judy all sat silently in the living room waiting for Ironhide to finish analyzing what it was that caused Judy's pasta bag to melt when they heard a cracking sound, like a dish being broken.. When he was done he walked into the room with a small chunk of the tile from the counter in his hand.

Judy whined in stress filled sorrow at the sight.

"every time." She groaned. "every time I plan for something special, my house becomes that much closer to ruins." Judy leaned her head on Terra's shoulder and continued to whine.

"this is where Terra most likely was infected with the allspark fragment." Ironhide walked outside and put the tile in his passenger seat and drove behind the house to where the garage was, and where Bumblebee went to after coming with Ironhide from Terra's house.

Mikaela looked in the kitchen and realized the pot of water was beginning to boil over and turned it off.

"sorry about ruining your evening." Terra said

"oh, it's fine. it's not my evening I'm concerned with anymore." Judy sighed "it's how I'm going to fix my beautiful kitchen that worry's me."

"I'll go and get you some water." Terra offered, joining Mikaela in the kitchen.

"oh, Judy." Ron called as he walked into the house. "I have a surprise for you."

"I'm in here." Judy called from the living room.

"ta-da!" Ron said, pulling a bottle of wine, a bouquet of pink roses, and a white box from behind him.

"oh, Ron!" Judy's once depressed mood instantly lifted as she took the roses. "they're beautiful!"

"and I kinda thought we might cut dinner short." He smiled handing her the box.

"oh, 'the lover's boutique'" Judy read the cover of the box.

"hi, mr. Witwicky." Mikaela said coming in from the kitchen, Terra following with Judy's water.

"oh!" Ron quickly grabbed the box and tried to hide it behind his back. "Hello Mikaela, Terra."

"oh, yes, they came by because we think we found where Terra was infected by the allspark fragment." Judy said as Terra handed her the water.

"oh… well…" Ron was at a loss of what to say.

"well, not so much an allspark fragment as allspark dust." Mikaela said trying to fix the awkward feeling that came over the room for some reason.

"well… we should go." Mikaela said as Ironhide came into view in the street out front of the house. " well, bye."

"it was nice to see you." Terra said, following her cousin to the door.

Soundwave sat in orbit around the planet watching, as lord Megatron had ordered him, for any signs of survivors of the latest battle, and spying on the Autobots. He was still connected to the U.S. satellite he had used to spy on the Autobots before. It was convenient and he would occasionally simply let it search for him while he would rest or hack into web chats and webcams and listen to human conversations. It was of course, never mind how boring the organics were, his only source of entertainment. He had found a webcam link between the Witwicky boy and his mate and decided to listen in. By the time the link was shut off by the boy's roommate, Soundwave finally had something he could report to his leader, but first he needed more information.

"_search: Terra Banes." _

Soundwave found birth records, school records, and extensive medical records on the Banes child and made a 'small' file in the back of his hard drive of the girl and her family unit.

_**Name**__: Terra Banes_

_**Sex:**__ female_

_**Age:**__ eighteen_

_**Date of birth**__: December, 13, 1991_

_**Height**__:5'7"_

_**Weight**__:132lb_

_**Current address**__: 350 Madison Drive, Tranquility, Nevada, United States of America_

_**Major Medical records:**__ injuries to the arms and legs due to motorboat accident, at age seven years, not expected to recover total usage of limbs, remarkable full recovery._

_**Family members**__:_

_**Father**__-Sergeant David Banes._

_**Sex: **__male _

_**Status**__: mechanic, United States military, _

_**stationed**__: Iraq_

_**Mother:**__ Susan Banes_

_**Sex:**__ female _

_**Date of death**__: September, 14, 1997_

_**Cause of death: **__automobile crash_

_**Name:**__ Martha Banes_

_**sex: **__female_

_**Status: **__psychiatrist_

_**Relation:**__ married to father- stepmother_

_**Siblings: **_

_**Name: **__Daniel Ryan Banes _

_**Sex: **__male_

_**Age: **__nineteen_

_**Date of birth: **__June,7, 1990_

_**Relation:**__ brother_

_**Name: **__Elizabeth Banes_

_**Sex:**__ female_

_**Age:**__ fifteen _

_**Date of birth: **__july, 12, 1994_

_**Relation:**__ sister_

_**Name: **__Maine Nelson-Banes_

_**Sex:**__ female_

_**Age:**__ eight_

_**Date of birth: **__march,12, 2001_

_**Relation:**__ stepsister_

_**Name:**__ Mary Nelson-Banes_

_**Sex: **__female_

_**Age:**__ eight_

_**Date of birth:**__ march, 12, 2001_

_**Relation: **__stepsister_

_**Name: **__Mellissa Nelson-Banes_

_**Sex: **__female_

_**Age: **__six_

_**Date of birth: **__January, 26, 2003_

_**Relation:**__ stepsister_

_**Name: **__Gabriel Banes_

_**Sex: **__male_

_**Age: **__one_

_**Date of birth: **__April, 4, 2008_

_**Relation:**__ half-brother_

_**Extended family: **_

_**Name: **__Mike Banes_

_**Sex:**__ male_

_**Status: **__mechanic_

_**Records: **__eleven years state penitentiary _

_**Cause:**__auto theft_

_**Relation:**__ brother of father, uncle_

_**Name:**__ Mikaela Banes_

_**Sex: **__female_

_**Age:**__ eighteen_

_**Date of birth:**__ November, 3, 1991_

_**Record: **__juvenile penitentiary _

_**Cause: **__withholding information on auto thefts made by mike Banes_

_**Relation:**__ daughter of mike banes, brother of father, cousin_

_**Name: **__Sophia Banes_

_**Sex:**__ female_

_**Relation:**__ mother of Mikaela Banes, aunt_

_**Date of death: **__September, 14, 1997_

_**Cause of death: **__automobile crash_

_**Cybertronian protector: **__Autobot, Ironhide _

_**Date of landfall on planet: **_

Soundwave stored all of this and decided to keep it to himself for a short while longer to find out more about this Banes child and what it is she is 'seeing' from the allspark. And more importantly, if it is even worth a message to lord Megatron. Yes, he will wait and find out about this '_the _Prime' character that she claims to see. He will also research the recorded history of this planet and try and find any relation to what little Cybertronian history he knows. He will dispatch a drone to find out more about this insect that wasn't on record. but first…

"**Soundwave to Barricade."**

"**speak, Soundwave."**

"**I have a mission for you…"**

**About the whole liquid nitrogen thing, my science teacher last year told our class a story of him doing that to prank his students and I thought it was too funny to keep to myself.**

**Anyway, sorry for the wait, no real excuse except cabin fever and the end of my most hated season of the year.**

**Please review and send in any complaints you may have. ;]**


	6. differences

"_Nothing is so strong as gentleness, and nothing is so gentle as real strength."_

_-Ralph W. Sockman _

Terra's lungs ached to the point that she could no longer use them, she had to run faster, but still, she knew it was gaining on her and would be able to simply reach out and grab her any second, so she kept running. There was nowhere she could run. She was in a completely demolished city, with smoking apartment buildings on her right and a flattened car and office building on her left. Terra had never been in a place like this before, she didn't know where she could possibly be, but she had a destination. Terra's heart stopped at the sound of its growl. The monster was close, and getting closer. She ran faster knowing her destination was just ahead of her.

"_Run faster, child! He is coming for you!" _ His voice came loud and clear, as though he were running next to her. But of course, he wasn't there, he was her destination. Terra ran faster and faster trying to get to him when her attacker came up behind her. She could hear the twisting of metal behind her as he began chasing her on foot.

"Please, help!" Terra screamed. "Where are you?" she called out to him as the metal monster swept her legs out from under her, throwing her hard onto her back and pinning her to the ground with its claw-like hand. The creature stood above her, Terra could only see its silhouette with the orange sun directly behind it and hear a blood curdling chuckle run through the beast.

"_Here!" _her goal yelled out, enraged by who threatened her. The Prime appeared out of nowhere at human size above her and instantly shot out a blast of what Terra could only describe as blue fire, then disappeared again into a cloud of dust. The attacker was momentarily distracted by this blast as Terra got up and began to run again.

She needed to get out. _But how?_ She thought. Her protector was standing just ahead of her, but the danger was far from over. Her chaser was back on his feet and now barreling towards her. She knew what she needed to end this nightmare, but she considered whether he would finally answer her question. The beast snarled in furry at her.

"Please, tell me!" Terra called out to her destination, "what's your name?" Terra ran to hide behind him as he now stood over three stories tall.

"_My name,"_ he said as he pointed his weapon at the monster chasing her. "_My name is Primus." _ He fired the fatal blast at the beast and it disappeared with a howl of pain and black smoke.

Just then, Terra splashed into water as black as death, as though she had fallen through the thin layer of cracked asphalt that she was standing on, and she began screaming and crying for help.

"Please, help me!" she called to Primus; he somehow ended up standing above her as if the black water he was on was rock solid.

"_Terra, you have to wake up!"_ Primus shouted turning to reach his hand out for her.

"I can't, I'm trying! Please, I don't want to be here! Primus, please help me!" she screamed as the black water filled her mouth. She coughed and gaged, for the water wasn't water at all, it had a rusty taste with a sweet tinge to it; she made one last futile attempt at screaming for help when the dark blood consumed her entirely.

"_Terra!" _Primus shouted as Terra disappeared from his view.

Terra woke screaming with Danny trying to shake her awake. Lizzy and Martha were staring at her as though she had just gone through an exorcism. She barely noticed Maine hiding in the doorway.

"Help! I…" Terra paused.

"Are you alright?" Danny asked as he stared at his sister in horror.

"What's going on?" Terra asked her throat was extremely sore and she felt like the room was spinning.

"Terra you are covered in blood!" Martha's face was paler than the moon.

"What?" Terra looked down at herself and sure enough her once white bed sheets were splattered with moist scarlet. "Oh… what? Where is Ironhide?"

"He is with Mary, you coughed up a lot of blood, and poor Ironhide was covered in it when we got here." Martha said as Lizzy handed Terra a glass of water. "Do we need to take you to the hospital? Ironhide said not to but I think we should." Martha seemed to be thinking about her odds if she has to take on Ironhide for Terra's sake.

"Why did Mary go down there?" Terra asked.

"I asked him to take her downstairs, there is no way I would let her see something like this." Martha turned around just in time to see Maine ducking around the corner.

"Get back in bed this instant!" she barked at the child.

Terra tried to get up out of her bloody bed but only managed to fall onto the floor with a louder than necessary thud sending Ironhide up the stairs quicker than one would think possible.

"Terra, you cannot move so quickly." Ironhide moved to pick the limp girl off the floor. "Ratchet will be here soon."

"I need a shower." Terra mumbled. "What time is it?"

"Two a.m." Ironhide said as he carried her out of the room. "I will take care of her, you all can go back to sleep now." With that, the obviously too tired to argue group of viewers went back to their rooms.

Terra felt extremely nauseas all of a sudden. "Ironhide…" she started.

"What?" Ironhide asked.

"I found his name." she mumbled, suddenly beginning to slip back into unconsciousness.

"What is it?" he asked eagerly. It was already too late, Terra had fallen back to sleep before she could answer him.

"**Rest child, you will need your strength for the days to come."** Primus said as he followed Ironhide down the stairs to the kitchen.

…Mikaela…

Mikaela woke up that morning at five o'clock to her phone ringing on her nightstand with a message from Ironhide. That was all she needed to be out the door, on her motorcycle, to her uncle's house. She counted herself lucky that no police were around at such an early hour to catch her speeding through three red lights in her urgency without a motorcycle helmet and in her pajamas. When Mikaela got to the house, her already high level of fear was instantly spiked when she saw Ratchet standing in the driveway with Terra in her blood spattered, light blue pajama pants and spaghetti strapped nightshirt slouched against his hand on the ground with Ironhide standing, arms crossed, next to him.

"What's going on?" she asked as she drove up the short driveway.

"Terra had a vision last night." Ironhide said never taking his optics off of his charge.

"Hey, Mikaela." Terra was extremely pale in her bloody pajamas and looked like Death herself as she leaned on Ratchet's hand.

"Well, what's wrong with her?" Mikaela asked as she took off her hat to reveal her dark hair, still tangled from sleep.

"She lost a lot of blood." Ratchet said, "I'm not quite sure, but I believe that the allspark somehow caused blood to seep into her lungs."

"Not as fun as it sounds." Terra wheezed softly.

"Will she be okay?" Mikaela asked urgently.

"Terra lost a large amount of blood last night. You will have to keep an eye on her for a few days, but for now she needs rest." Ratchet said.

Mikaela sighed in relief.

"What did you see in your vision?" she asked softly as she sat next to Terra in the driveway.

"I-I saw Primus…" Terra whispered. "Does that mean anything to you?" she asked Mikaela.

"No… what about you, Ratchet?" Mikaela looked up at the medic.

"If you don't remember, Mikaela, we have a very limited knowledge of our history," Ratchet said helping Terra stand on her own, "the allspark was our only key to the past, we can't remember."

Mikaela looked down in frustration; she hated the trouble that the allspark always seemed to make.

"But," Ratchet started when he saw her frustration. "It does sound familiar, like something I might have heard when I was young. I will talk to Optimus."

"I'll take her inside." Mikaela said Terra was clinging to her side as Mikaela led her to the front door, Ironhide and Ratchet transformed and their holoforms followed closely after them.

Once inside Mikaela finally noticed the absence of relatives in the house.

"Where is everybody?" she asked as she helped Terra lay down on the large cream colored couch in the living room.

"Martha is upstairs with Gabriel on the phone with your uncle; Bumblebee took everyone else to do something while Ratchet is here." Ironhide put a damp cloth over Terra's forehead then chuckled. "Ratchet has near about had it with twins, from any species."

"It's not that, Ironhide" Ratchet appeared from the kitchen with a glass of orange juice in each hand and gave them to the girls. "I would rather not have to put those poor children through any more trauma in one day than they already have."

"When are they supposed to come back?" Mikaela asked taking the glass from the doctor. Ratchet's holoform had the appearance of any average doctor you might see, he wore a white coat buttoned up completely with brown pants and black shoes, he was of average height and build, kind and wise brown eyes and greyish brown hair.

"Terra!" Mary's louder than necessary high pitched voice came from outside and the loud thudding footsteps of children came from the front porch followed by the repeated slamming open and close of the front door as each child entered the house. Terra groaned in pain at the volume of their voices.

"Terra!" Mary called again as she ran into the living room. "Are you better now?" she asked eagerly. Everyone else seemed simply to glance between Mary and Ironhide's already annoyed face and quickly left the soon-to-be-battleground. Millie stayed and hid behind a corner to watch the group in the living room.

"She isn't going to get 'better' with you little monsters screaming and causing chaos all around here!" Ironhide snapped at the child. "If you want her to 'get better', maybe you should try giving her some silence once in a while."

Mary glared at the six foot three Autobot holoform in front of her and scoffed. "Bite me, Tinman!" she snarled.

Terra groaned again and rolled onto her side into the couch. Bumblebee's holoform appeared and sat down on the couch and patted her head in sympathy.

"Please make them stop." She whined. Mikaela gave Mary and Ironhide a cold stare.

"Take it outside, you two. We don't want a repeat of last week." Mikaela said harshly not giving either one the sympathy for an older friend, or pity on a bratty child.

"What happened last week?" Ratchet asked innocently.

"Mr. Grumpbot thinks I scratched his precious paint when he was sleeping." Mary sneered. "But he can't prove anything!"

"I know it was you, you little demon! You were yelling that you didn't do it before I even spoke!" Ironhide boomed. Terra whimpered and curled her legs up to her stomach and covered her ears with the rag Ironhide gave her. Millie quickly left her hiding place and made for the stairs.

"Outside, both of you." Ratchet growled seeing his patient in so much pain. "If you two have enough nerve to bicker like a couple, then I suggest you two try and settle your issues like one." He turned to walk out the door. "You two need to find some common ground and work out your differences. Ironhide, be aware that I am giving Bumblebee the task of making sure you two settle these pathetic disputes by the time I return." With that, Ratchet left and was heard driving away.

Bumblebee's eyes grew wide as he watched the medic disappear out the front door. Mary and Ironhide turned their piercing glares on Bumblebee.

"Hey, no reasons to stare down Bee, you two, leave him alone." Mikaela said. "Now, first of all we need to get you two out of the house and on common ground." The teen stared down the Autobot. "Ironhide, why don't you and Mary go outside and brainstorm you favorite interests and start from there." Ironhide glared at Mikaela but obeyed and left the room with Mary trailing behind reluctantly.

"Now, Terra, can you tell us more about your dream?" Mikaela asked softly, Bumblebee moved over on the couch as Terra tried to sit up.

"I was being chased by this monster and I was in this ruined city and…" Terra proceeded to tell her nightmare.

… Mary…

Mary sat down on the yellow wooden swing on the porch and watched as Ironhide transformed in front of her in an overused attempt to intimidate the eight year old girl. Ironhide knelt down in front of Mary and stared her down. "So…" Mary started, "got any hobbies? I mean other than being a jerk?"

Ironhide looked down at the cannon on his arm and struggled to keep it from rotating. "Do you know what this is?" he said pointing to said cannon. "This is a very dangerous weapon; do you know why I have it?"

Mary shrugged. "Because it's stuck to your arm?"

Ironhide's hand unintentionally clenched into a fist. "No, I have it because I am a high ranking Autobot weapons specialist. Not your nanny. My only job here is to find out what is in your step-sister's head and keep her safe. I am not here to make friends and play 'dolls' with you and your sisters. Got it?"

Mary leaned forward in the swing and glared at the twenty-two foot robot. "You wouldn't talk so tough if you were my size." Mary smiled, "if you were my size I bet I could kick your butt!"

For some reason, Ironhide couldn't help but laugh at the child's threat. "I think that can be arranged." he laughed some more. "Why don't you put your gun where your mouth is?"

…barricade…

Like barricade was actually going to do a _favor _for Soundwave. The only reason he was in the state of Nevada was because of the very attractive bribe that he was offered to scout the city and know the whereabouts of this Banes child and her guardian. He expected to see an Autobot or two when he got nearer to the child's home; he knew that he should be careful and keep his energy signal masked when he entered the city. What he didn't expect was a bright yellow Autobot medic to pop out of nowhere and nearly run him off the road. He truly didn't expect to be chased by said medic half way out of the state of Nevada and further still until finally the medic gave up the chase for whatever it was he was doing before.

Something clicked then, in the back of his processor.

_Let the hunt begin._ He thought with a malicious chuckle. _This will be fun…_

…Danny…

Why he agreed to this, he did not know. Somehow, Danny found himself at a laser tag arena wearing a Blue team vest and gun, waiting to start the game. He thought he chose wisely in his team members though, which included Lizzy and Ironhide. Apparently, Mary and Ironhide finally found something that they both enjoyed, terrorizing others. Mary's team consisted of her _good_ twin and unlucky volunteer Miles, who, by pure chance, happened to be in the GameStop next door to the arena.

The game started, Danny immediately looked for somewhere he could hide and shoot at people as they passed. His hideout was found almost immediately by Miles and he was tagged out shortly afterward. After his 'death' Danny decided to watch the game from the TV screen outside in the waiting room with the party playing after his. He watched with amusement when Miles screamed obnoxiously as he tried and failed to dive out of the way as Lizzy tagged him out. Landing on his back as his vest buzzed and beeped, Miles stared up at Lizzy, who was standing over him, squealing with victory.

"Beat that, Blondie!" she shouted at him. Just as she said this, she was shot in the back by Mary.

"That's for tagging Blondie!" Mary shouted with laughter and sprinted away to find her twin.

Ironhide was the last member of Danny's team and by the looks of it, he was well aware of that. He held his gun in front of him and had the deadly focused look of a lone soldier on the battle field. He spun around quickly at the sound of footsteps behind him then in front of him. Maine appeared in the corner of the screen, running in the opposite direction and was quickly tagged.

"No fair!" she said as she made her way to the exit.

Danny watched with interest as Ironhide disappeared from the screen, he badly wanted to see his little sister get an attitude adjustment, although, seeing a highly trained alien warrior get his backside handed to him by a little girl sounded like a need-to-see. Lizzy and Maine sat down next to him.

"Can I call mom?" Maine asked.

"Why?" Lizzy was already pulling out her cellphone.

"I want to ask how Terra is doing." Lizzy handed Maine the phone and looked back at the screen just in time to see a small blur of bright red fuzz run behind Ironhide.

"Guys, She might actually take him out!" she said, pointing at the screen. Maine had walked off to talk on the phone and Miles was already pulling out money.

"My five says he tags her first." He declared.

Lizzy grinned. 'If you're going to make a bet" she said as she pulled out ten. "Make it worth it."

…Bumblebee…

After Terra had gotten her shower, she and Mikaela sat on the couch and did nothing but watch old movies and sleep. (Apparently waking up at two and losing one tenth your blood can make one very exhausted.) Bumblebee stayed and offered to help Martha look after them and so ended up joining them. Gabriel and Millie were supposed to take their naps and Martha was at work.

Bumblebee sat/ lay on the couch with a perfect view of the hallway leading to the front door and a partial view of the stairs. He glanced at the girls, who both had somehow managed to fall asleep on the love seat in comfortable positions with each resting her head on the armrest next to each other's feet. He had offered to switch places with them, seeing how the couch was much larger, but they politely refused and quickly fell asleep. Spike lay beneath them with Terra's hand limp on the scruff of his neck where she had been petting him, before she fell asleep.

Bumblebee was about to holoform out and rest himself, when he saw Millie creeping slowly down the stairs. When she caught sight of Bumblebee, she paused.

"B-Bumblebee?" she asked hesitantly. Bumblebee sat up and motioned for her to sit down next to him. When she did, she almost immediately wrapped her arms around his waist and began sobbing into his stomach.

"Please, don't tell him!" She cried. "It was-was an accident! I'm so s-s-sorry!"

Mikaela turned on the love seat and nearly knocked Terra onto the floor.

"Bee, can we talk somewhere else?" Millie whimpered.

Bumblebee nodded and dematerialized as Millie tiptoed out the door.

…Ironhide…

He was surprised that he actually found himself enjoying the child's presence. He gave Mary the honor of sitting in the driver's seat and her sister in the passenger seat. Danny and Lizzy got back seat. Miles had left due to a call from his parents about chores.

"I still can't believe it." Lizzy said as they pulled into the driveway. No one had expected the result of the laser tag game. Even less expected was that such a result had brought the alien warrior and the eight year old girl together in friendship so quickly. As they pulled into the drive, Bumblebee transformed and stood in Ironhide's way. Ironhide let the children out, transformed himself and watched them go into the house quietly bickering about some bet. When they were inside Ironhide turned towards the young bot standing in his way. Bumblebee was glaring at Ironhide with his arms crossed angrily, which is not a normal thing for him to do. "What is wrong, Bumblebee?" Ironhide asked. Bumblebee looked down at his foot as Millie walked cautiously from behind him and looked up at Ironhide timidly.

"Uh-uh. Umm..." the child attempted to speak.

"What is the matter?" Ironhide asked calmly.

"I-I… um…" Millie began to choke up with tears.

Bumblebee knelt down and picked up the child and attempted to sooth her.

"What's wrong?" Ironhide asked softly.

"I-I… I'm s-s-sorry." Millie choked.

"For what? Mellissa?" Ironhide asked as he touched the child's cheek.

"I-I" she sniffed. "I was the one that scratched your paint." She choked "not Mary."

Bumblebee glared at Ironhide.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Ironhide asked.

"Be-because I-I was go-going t-to, but-but I saw you yelling a-at Mary and-and…" she started sobbing.

"_Fear is a powerful thing…"_ Bumblebee's radio went off.

"I w-was getting m-my bike out o-of the garage and the-the handlebar accidentally scratched your door." She sucked in a lungful of air. "i-I was going to tell you honestly! But the-then I saw you yelling at m-Mary and."

"Calm down child." Ironhide soothed.

Millie looked up from Bumblebee's hand. "You're n-not mad?" she asked hesitantly.

"No, I'm not mad." He smiled. "I was then only because no one told me."

"But y-you were yelling at Mary."

"If you haven't noticed, child, Mary and I always fight." He chuckled.

"So, you're not angry at me?" Millie looked up at Ironhide with bright green eyes. Bumblebee gave him an odd warning glance, Ironhide didn't notice.

"No, I'm not mad." Ironhide smiled. "Why don't you go inside for lunch now?"

When Millie went inside, Bumblebee turned towards Ironhide with his optics glaring.

"What?" Ironhide asked the scout.

"_There's nothing to fear but fear itself…" _Bumblebee said.

"Are you saying that I frightened her into silence?" Ironhide asked offended.

"_Ding, ding! We have a winner!" _ Bumblebee transformed and left with an angry rev of his engine.

Ironhide stood in the driveway and watched the young scout until he was out of view. When he was gone, Ironhide transformed and holoformed into the house. Terra was sitting on the couch wrapped in a comforter watching Old Yeller with Martha and Mikaela, all of whom were choking back tears as the movie ended.

"I see how your day was spent." He said as they looked up from the ending credits.

I am sooo incredibly sorry that this took so long and I hope it was worth your wait. I have been very stressed as of late and haven't had the time for fanfics (writing or reading).

My whole fanfic schedule is now out the window and I can't honestly tell you when the next chapter might be coming out.

Is anybody surprised that I brought in Primus?

Your guess is as good as mine when it comes to who won the laser tag game. Please review and speak freely(I don't report bullying, it's your honest opinion and I will respect that.)

Once again I am incredibly sorry for taking so long and I completely understand if you hate me.


End file.
